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OBITUARY ADDRESSES 



DF.LTVEnEn ON THE 



OCCASION OF THE DEATH . 



ZACHARY TAYLOR, 

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 



JULY 10, 185 0. 



PRINTED DT ORDER OF THE SENATE AND HOCSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

■.5: 



WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED BY WILLIAM M. BELT. 

18 50. 



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OBITUARY ADDRESSES 



DEUTDIZD OX THE 



6^ 



OCCASION OF THE DEATH 



ZACHARY TAYLOR, 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Irniite nnii yjanur of ^^tprarntatiufs 



JULY 10, 1850; 



FlXERAl SERIIOX BY THE REV. SMITH mi D,l). 



RECTOE OP ST. JOHS 3 CHURCH, WASHINGION, 



PREACHED m THE PRESIDENTIAL MANSION, JULY 13, 1850. 



IDrintftJ 6n ortif r of tfir Senate 
& llJoust of Crprcsciitatibcs. 




WASniNGTOX: (^/ 
FEINTED BY WILLIAM M. BELT. 

ISoO. 



^ 
^ 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 
Tuesday, July 9, 1850. 



Mr. Butler proceeded to address the Senate ; and, 
having spoken an hour, on a private communication from 
Mr. Webster, he suspended his remarks. 

Mr. Webster. — Mr. President, I have permission 
from the honourable member from South CaroHna 
to interrupt the progress of his speech, and to make 
a solemn and mournful suggestion to the Senate. 
The intelUgence which, withm the last few moments, 
has been received, indicates that a very great mis- 
fortune is now immediately impending over the 
country. It is supposed by medical ad\asers and 
others that the President of the United States can- 
not live many hours. This intimation comes in a 
shape so authentic, and through so many varieties 
of communication, and all tending to the same 
result, that I have thought it my duty to move 
the Senate to follow the example which has already 
been set in the other branch of the National Legis- 
lature. 



At half-past eleven o'clock to-day, I called at the 
President's mansion to inquire after his health. I 
was informed that he had had a verj^ bad night ; 
that he was exceedingly ill this morning, but that 
at that moment he was more easy and more com- 
posed. I had hardly reached my seat in the Sen- 
ate when it was announced to me that the fever 
had suddenly returned upon him with very alarm- 
ing symptoms ; that appearances of congestion were 
obvious; and that it was hardly possible his life 
would be prolonged through the day. 

With the permission, therefore, of my honour- 
able friend from South Carolina, who, I am sure, 
like the rest of us, has those feehngs on this occa- 
sion which quite disqualify us for the performance 
of our duties, even in this very important crisis of 
public affairs, I venture to move the Senate that it 
do now adjourn. 

The Senate accordingly adjourned. 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

Tuesday, July 9, 1850. 



At one o'clock and seven minutes, P. M. 

Mr. Bayly rose and stated, that he understood that 
authentic information had reached the Capitol that the 
condition of the President of the United States was so 
critical that he "would probably not survive an hour. 

He therefore moved that the House adjourn; and the 
question being put. 

It -R-as decided in the affirmative. 

And the House accordingly adjourned until to-morrow 
at eleven o'clock, A. M. 



IN SENATE. 

Wednesday, July 10, 1850. 



The following communication, received by the Secretary 
of the Senate, was read : — 

WasJiington, July 10, 1850. 
To the Senate of the United States : 

In consequence of the lamented death of 
Zachary Taylor, late President of the United States, 
I shall no longer occupy the chair of the Senate; 
and I have thought that a formal communication 
to the Senate, to that effect, through your Secre- 
tary^, might enable you the more promptly to pro- 
ceed to the choice of a presiding officer. 

Millard Fillmore. 

The following message was received from the President 
of the United States, by Mr. Fisher : — 

Washington, July 10, 1850. 
Fellotv-CitizenB of the Senate and House of Representatives : 
I have to perform the melancholy duty of 
announcing to you, that it has pleased Almighty 
God to remove from this life Zachary Taylor, late 
President of the United States. He deceased last 
evening at the hour of half-past ten o'clock, in the 



midst of bis family and surrounded by affectionate 
friendsj calmly and in tbe full possession of all bis 
faculties. Among bis last words were tbese, wbicli 
be uttered witb empbatic distinction: "I bave 
always done my duty — I am ready to die — m}' 
only regret is for tbe friends I leave bebind me." 

Having announced to you, fellow-citizens, tbis 
most afflicting bereavement, and assuring you tbat 
it bas penetrated no beart witb deeper grief tban 
mine, it remains for me to say, tbat I propose tbis 
day, at twelve o'clock, in tbe Hall of tbe House of 
Representatives, in tbe presence of botb Houses of 
Congress, to take tbe oatb prescribed by tbe con- 
stitution to enable me to enter on tbe execution of 
tbe office wbicb tbis event bas devolved on me. 

Millard Fillmore. 

The message was read. 

The following message was received from the President 
of the United States by Mr. Fisher :— 

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and Souse of Representatives : 
A great man bas fallen among us, and a 
wliole comitry is called to an occasion of unex- 
pected, deep, and general mourning. 

I recommend to tbe two Houses of Congress to 
adopt sucli measures, as in tbeir discretion may 
seem proper, to perform witb due solemnities tbe 
funeral obsequies of Zacbary Taylor, late Presi- 



9 

dent of the United States ; and thereby to signify 
the great and affectionate regard of the American 
people for the memory of one whose life has been 
devoted to the public service ; whose career in arms 
has not been surpassed in usefulness or brilliancy ; 
A\ ho has been so recently raised by the unsolicited 
voice of the people to the highest civil authority in 
the government, — ^which he administered mth so 
much honour and advantage to his country; and 
by whose sudden death so many hopes of future 
usefulness have been blighted for ever. 

To you, Senators and Representatives of a Nation 
in tears, I can say nothing which can alleviate the 
sorrow with which you are oppressed. I appeal to 
you to aid me, under the trjdng circumstances 
which surround me, in the discharge of the duties, 
from wliich, however much I may be oppressed by 
them, I dare not shrink ; and I rely upon Him, who 
holds in his hands the destinies cf nations, to en- 
dow me with the requisite strength for the task, and 
to avert from our country the evils apprehended 
from the heavy calamity which has befiillen us. 

I shall most readily concur in whatever measures 

the wisdom of the two Houses may suggest, as 

befitting this deeply melancholy occasion. 

Millard Fillmore. 
Washington, July 10, 1850. 

The messaice was read. 



10 

Mr. Downs rose and said : 

Mr. Secretary : I rise, as a member of the delegar 
tion of the State whose citizen the late President of 
the United States was, to offer resolutions suitable to 
the occasion. The announcement of his death has 
been already made officially here and elsewhere ; 
and on the wings of lightning, and almost as swift 
as thought, the sad intelligence has been conveyed 
to remote portions of this great repubhc. How su- 
blime, as well as melancholy, is the scene in which 
we are now engaged ! But a few days since — less 
than a week — many of us sat near the then Presi- 
dent of the United States, and saluted him in health, 
at the base of that monument which the hands of a 
grateful posterity are now raising to the memory of 
the first and the greatest of his predecessors — hero, 
statesman, hke himself — and where we had assem- 
bled to pay devotion to the memory of the man 
" first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts 
of his countrymen ;" and to rekindle, in the breasts 
of all, that spirit of union, fraternity, and liberty, 
without which we shall prove ourselves unworthy 
of our revolutionary ancestors, and a reproach to 
their memory. Yes, there sat, quiet and placid as 
the gentle breeze from the Potomac that cooled his 
heated brow, the man whose very pathway to his 
log-cabin school-house in Kentucky, the " Blood}- 
Ground," was beset by the tomahawk of the savage. 



11 

and who had passed through four wars and many of 
the bloodiest and most glorious battle-fields of his 
country imscathed — at the head of the greatest re- 
public of this or any other country, protected, not 
by bayonets, but by the affections of his countr)-- 
men : yet, in a few short days, in the midst of this 
quiet, peace, prosperity, and fame, he was to ai> 
proach that doom which awaits us all. 

Zachaet Taylor was born in 1784, in Orange 
county, Virginia. In early life he gave evidence of 
extraordinary energy and force of character. In 
1808, he was appointed, durmg the presidency of 
Mr. Jefferson, lieutenant in the army of the United 
States; rose, in 1812, to the rank of captain; and. 
after the declaration of war -s^dth Great Britain in 
that year, he was brevetted major by President Ma- 
dison, for his memorable and gallant defence of Fort 
Harrison, with a handful of men, against a large 
body of savages. In 1832, then advanced to the 
rank of colonel, he distinguished himself in the 
Black Hawk war ; was ordered into Florida in 1836, 
and for his signal services against the savage Semi- 
noles, was created a brevet brigadier-general, and 
commander-in-chief in Florida. Subsequently, he 
was transferred to the command of the division of 
the army in the south-western portion of the Union ; 
was ordered into Texas in 1845; advanced to the 
banks of the Eio Grande; and afterwards, beinnniuLi- 



12 

Adth the battles of the 8th and 9th of May, 1846, 
at Palo Alto and Kesaca de la Palma, and endmg 
with Buena Vista, he overthrew, with fearful odds 
against him, and signally defeated the most skilful 
of the Mexican generals, Ampudia, Arista, Paredes, 
and even the President of Mexico himself; and, by 
a series of brilUant -victories, gained for himself and 
the brave armies under his command, a world-wide 
renown, commanding the approval and admiration 
of Europe and America, and securing an enviable 
and proud place in the brightest chapters of the 
history of American arms. 

But why attempt to portray his life or describe 
his actions ? This is not the time nor place for such 
a purpose, if I had the ability to do it justice. His 
history is part of the history of his country, and 
therefore needs no aid of friends to preserve it. The 
battle-fields of Fort Harrison, of Okeechobee, Palo 
Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterey, and, the most 
glorious of them all, Buena Vista, are at once his 
monuments and his eulogies. He needs no others. 
Of his political history, this is not the place nor I 
the person to speak. Yet I may, I hope, be par- 
doned a single remark. The wisest and best coun- 
sels of public men in a free country — free in speech, 
in the press, and in the ballot — cannot be expected 
to go unquestioned. It would not be a free country, 
if they were. But it is consolatory to know that, 



13 

whatever differences of opinion may have existed as 
to the policy of him whose untimely death we all so 
much lament, they are already, before the tomb has 
been closed over him, buried in oblivion for ever. 
He is hereafter to belong to no party, to no section, 
but to the whole American family, and his memory 
will be revered and cherished by them all ahke. 

But let not the tears we are shedding over our 
departed President blind us to the grandeur of the 
scene in which we stand. Did the world ever wit- 
ness such an one before ? How soon, if ever, can it 
be witnessed in other countries? The chief of a 
nation of more than twenty millions of freemen is 
suddenly withdrawn from the world by an act of 
God, followed by no disturbance of the perfect equi- 
poise of our institutions. The gentlemen composing 
the cabinet of the late President, after his decease, 
and at the approach of midnight, without ostenta- 
tion, quietly repair to the residence of the Vice-Pre- 
sident, and there announce the national bereave- 
ment, and his own promotion by the operation of 
our Constitution, and the pre\aous designation of 
the person to the highest and the most honourable 
position on earth. Within little more than twelve 
hours after that event, the new President has taken 
the oath of office, without any military parade, and 
been installed in command of the ship of state, 
which moves on over the billows of time, more 



14 

bright and buoyant than ever, bearing at her mast- 
head the proud emblems of national glory and great- 
ness, and presenting to the world a sublime spectacle 
of the beauty and perfection of self-government. 

Such a scene as this ought to make us a happier 
and a better people. It should make us sensible of 
the great and manifold advantages we enjoy as a 
free and united people. Let us, then, bury in the 
tomb of our departed President, all sectional feelings 
and divisions, and unite once more in that spirit of 
cordial good will and brotherly love which united 
our forefathers in the earlier days of the republic. 
Let us renew before we leave his grave our vows to 
support the Union, and our determination to perpe- 
tuate our Constitution in all its primeval simphcity 
and purity. There is room enough, glory enough, 
and honours enough for us all, while we preserve the 
Union, and know how wisely and prudently to en- 
joy it- 
Mr. Downs then submitted the following resolution, 
-which was considered by unanimous consent and agreed to. 
Whereas, it has pleased Divine Providence to remove from 
this life, Zachary Taylor, late President of the United 
States, the Senate, sharing in the general sorrow which this 
melancholy event must produce, is desirous of manifesting 
its sensibility on this occasion : Therefore, 

Resolved, That a committee, consisting of Messrs. Web- 
ster, Cass, and King, be appointed on the part of the Se- 



15 

natc, to meet such committee as may be appointed on the 
part of the House of Representatives, to consider and "re- 
port Avhat measures it may be deemed proper to adopt to 
show the respect and affection of Congress for tlie memory 
of the illustrious deceased, and to make the necessary ar- 
rangements for his funeral. 

Ordered, That the Secretary of the Senate communicate 
the foregoing resolution to the House of Representatives. 

Mr. "Webster. — Mr. Secretary, at a time -vvlien 
the great mass of our fellow-citizens enjoy remark- 
able health and happiness throughout the M'hole 
country, it has pleased Divine Providence to visit 
the two houses of CongTess, and especially this house, 
with repeated occasions for mourning and lamen- 
tation. Since the commencement of the session, we 
have followed two of our own members to their last 
home; and we are now called upon, in conjunction 
with the other branch of the legislature, and in full 
sjTnpathy with that deep tone of affliction Avliich I 
am sure is felt throughout all the country, to take 
part in the last and due solemnities of the funeral 
of the late President of the United States. 

Truly, sir, was it said in the communication read 
to us, that a '•' great man has fallen among us." The 
late President of the United States, originally a 
soldier by profession, having gone through a long 
and splendid career of military service, had, at the 
close of the late war with Mexico, become so nnicli 



16 

endeared to the people of the United States, and had 
inspired them with so high a degree of regard and 
confidence, that without sohcitation or appHcation, 
without pursuing any devious paths of poHcy, or 
turning a hair's hreadth to the right or the left from 
the path of duty, a great, and powerful, and gener- 
ous people saw fit, by popular vote and voice, to 
confer upon him the highest civil authority in the 
nation. We cannot forget that as in other instances 
so in this, the public feeling was won and carried 
away, in some degree, by the eclat of mihtary re- 
no^nl. So it has been always; and so it always will 
be, because high respect for noble feats in arms has 
been, and always will be, outpoured from an ex- 
haustless fountain in the hearts of the peoj)le, living 
under a popular government. But it would be a 
great mistake to suppose that the late President of 
the United States owed his advancement to high 
civil trust, or his great accej)tabinty with the people, 
to military talent or ability alone. I believe, sir, 
that associated with the highest admiration for those 
qualities possessed by him, there was spread through- 
out the community a high degree of confidence and 
faith in his integrity, and honour and uprightness 
as a man ; I believe he was especially regarded as 
both a firm and a mild man in the exercise of autho- 
rity; and I have observed, more than once, in this 
and in other popular governments, that the prevalent 



17 

motiAe M-itli the masses of inaiikiiid I'or conferring 
liigli power on individuals, is often a confidence in 
their mildness, their paternal, protecting, and safe 
character. The people naturally feel safe -where 
they feel themselves to be under the control and 
protection of sober counsels, of impartial minds, and 
a general paternal superintendence. 

I suppose, sir, that no case ever happened in the 
very best days of the Roman republic, when any 
man found himself clothed with the highest autho- 
rity in the State, under circumstances more repelling 
all suspicion of personal appHcation, all suspicion of 
pursuing any crooked path in poUtics, or all sus- 
picion of having been actuated by sinister views 
and purposes, than in the case of the w^orthy, and 
eminent, and distinguished, and good man, whose 
death we now deplore. 

He has left to the people of his comitry a legacy 
in this : He has left them a bright example, which 
addresses itself with peculiar force to the young and 
rising generation; for it tells them that there is a 
path to the highest degree of renown — straight, on- 
ward, steady, without change or deviation. 

Mr. Secretary, my friend from Louisiana, [Mr. 
Downs] has detailed shortly the events in the 
military career of General Taylor. His service 
throuLili life was mostly on the frontier, and always 
a hard service — often in combat witli the trilx's of 



18 

Indians all along the borders for many thousands 
of miles. It has been justly remarked by one of the 
most eloquent men whose voice was ever heard in 
these houses, that it is not in Indian wars that 
heroes are celebrated, but that it is there that they 
are formed. The hard service, the stern discipline, 
devolving upon all those who have a great extent 
of frontier to defend, and often with irregular troops, 
being called on suddenly to enter into contests with 
savages, to study the habits of savage life and 
savage war, in order to foresee and overcome their 
stratagems — all these things tend to make a hardy 
military character. 

For a very short time, sir, I had a coimexion 
with the executive government of this country; and 
at that period very perilous embarrassing circum- 
stances existed between the United States and the 
Indians on the borders, and Avar was actually raging 
between the United States and the Florida tribes; 
and I very well remember that those who took 
counsel together on that occasion officiallj^ and 
who were desirous of placing the military com- 
mand in the safest hands, came to the conclusion 
that there was no man in the service more full}' 
uniting the qualities of military ability and great 
personal prudence than Zachary Taylok; and lie 
was, of course, appointed to the command. 

Unlbrtunately his career at the head of this go- 



4 



19 

vemment was short. For my part, in all that I have 
seen of him, I have found much to respect and 
nothing to condemn. The circumstances under 
which he conducted the government for the few 
mouths he was at the head of it have been such as, 
perhaps, not to give to him a very favourable, cer- 
tiiinlj not a long oi3portunity, of developing his prin- 
ciples and his policy, and to carry them out : Ijut I 
believe he has left on the minds of the country a 
strong impression, first, of his absolute honesty and 
integrity of character; next, of his sound, practical 
good sense; and, lastly, of the mildness, kindness, 
and friendUness of his temper towards all his 
countrymen. 

But he is gone. He is ours no more, except in 
the force of his example. Sir, I heard with infinite 
dehght the sentiments expressed by my honourable 
friend from Louisiana, [Mr. Downs,] who has just 
resumed his seat, when he earnestly prayed that this 
event might be used to soften animosities, to allay 
party criminations and recriminations, and to restore 
fellowship and good feeling among the various parts 
of the Union. Mr. Secretary, great as is our loss to- 
day, if these inestimable and inappreciable blessings 
shall have been secured to us, even by the death of 
Zachart Taylor, they have not been purchased at 
•too liigh a price : and if his spirit, from the regions 
to which ho has ascended, could see these results 



20 

flowing from his unexpected and untimely end on 
earth — ^if he could see that he had entwtaed a sol- 
dier's laurel around a martyr's crown, he would say 
exultingly, " Happy am I, that by my death I have 
done more for that country which I loved and 
served, than I did or could do by all the devotion 
and all the efforts that I could make in her behalf, 
during the short span of my earthly existence." 

Mr. Secretary, great as this calamity is, we 
mourn, but not as those without hope. We have 
seen one eminent man, and another eminent man, 
and at last a man in the most eminent station fall 
away from the midst of us. But I doubt not there 
is a Power above us, exercising over us that paren- 
tal care that has marked our progress for so many 
3^ears. I have confidence still that the place of the 
departed will be supplied ; that the kind, beneficent 
favour of Almighty God will still ,be with us, and 
that we shall be borne along, and borne onward and 
upward, on the wings of His sustaining Providence. 
jMay God grant that in the time that is before us, 
there may not be wanting to us as wise men, as 
good men for our counsellors, as he was whose 
funeral obsequies we now propose to celebrate. 

Mr. Cass addressed the Senate as follows : 
Again and again, during the present session, has a 
warnmg voice come from the tomb, sa^dng to all 



^ 



21 



of us, " Be ye also ready." Two of our colleagues 
have fallen iii the midst of their labours, and we 
have followed them to the narrow house, where all 
must lie. In life we are in death ; and this lesson, 
A\liicli accompanies us from the cradle to the grave, 
is among those merciful dispensations of Providence 
A\liicli teach us how transitory are the things around 
us, and how soon they must be abandoned for an 
existence, with no hope but that which is held out 
by the Gospel of our Saviour. And now another 
solemn warning is heard ; and this time it will carry 
mourning to the hearts of twenty millions of people. 
Impressively has it been said and repeated here to- 
day that "A great man has fallen in our Israel." 
In the providence of God the Chief Magistrate of 
the Republic, to whom his fellow-citizens had con- 
fided the high executive duties of the country, has 
been suddenly taken from us — ripe, indeed, in years 
and honours, and but the other day in the full pos- 
session of his health, and with the promise of years 
of faithful and patriotic services before him. The 
statesman, occupying as proud a position as this 
world offers to human hopes, has been struck down 
in a crisis which demanded all his firmness and wis- 
dom. The conqueror upon many a battle-field has 
fought his last fight, and been vanquished. The 
soldier, who had passed unharmed through many a 
bloody fray, has fallen before the shaft of the great 



99 



destroyer. How truly are we told, that tliere is one 
event unto all! The mighty and the lowly descend 
to the tomb together, and together are covered with 
the cold clod of the valley — and thus pass away the 
honours and cares of life. 

The moment is too solemn and impressive for 
laboured addresses. Thoughts, not words, are the 
tribute which it demands. History will do justice 
to the deceased patriot. He will live in the memorj^ 
of his countrjnnen, as he lived in their hearts, and 
affection. His active life was spent in their service, 
and in those scenes of peril, of exertion, and of ex- 
posure, which it is the lot of the American soldier 
to encounter, and which he meets without a mur- 
mur, faithful to his duty, lead him where it ma}^, in 
life or in death. His splendid miUtary exploits 
have placed him among the great Caj)tains of the 
age, and will be an imperishable monument of his 
own fame and of the glory of his country. In the 
disparity of force, they carry us back for similar ex- 
amples to the early ages of the world — to the com- 
bats which history has recorded, and where inequa- 
lity of numbers yielded to the exertions of skill and 
valour. But I need not recur to them : are they 
not written in burning characters upon the heart of 
every American ? 

Strong in tlie confidence of his countrymen, he 
was called to the Chief Magistracy at a period of 



23 

great dilKculty — more portentous, indeed, tlian any 
Ave have ever experienced. And now he has heen 
called by Providence from his high functions, with 
his mission unfulfdled, leaving us to mourn his loss 
and to honour his memory. His own last words, 
spoken with equal truth and sincerity, constitute 
his highest eulogy : '' I am not afraid to die," said 
the dying patriot. " I have done my duty." The 
integrity of his motives was never assailed nor as- 
sailable. He had passed through life, and a long 
and active one, neither meriting nor meeting re- 
proach ; and in his last hour, the conviction of the 
honest discharge of his duty was present to console 
him, even when the things of this life were ilxnt 
fading away. 

Let us humbly hope that this afilicting dispeusar 
tion of Providence may not be without its salutary 
influence upon the American people, and of their 
representatives. It comes in the midst of a stormy 
agitation, threatening the most disastrous conse- 
quences to our country, and to the great cause of 
self-government through the w^orld. It is a solenni 
appeal, and should be solemnly heard and heeded. 
His death, whose loss we mourn, will not be in vain, 
if it tend to subdue the feelings that have hccn 
excited, and to prepare the various sections of our 
country for a mutual spirit of forbearance, Avhidi 
shall insure the safety of all, l)y the zealous co- 



24 

oiieration of all. We could offer no more appro- 
priate nor durable tribute to departed worth, tlian 
such a sacrifice of conflicting views upon the altar 
of our common country-. In life and in death he 
would have equally devoted himself to her service 
and her safety. 

Mr. Pearce. — Mr. Seceetaet, I must ask the 
Senate to pardon me for venturuig to add to what 
has been said, the expression of the profound regret 
Avith which, in common \\ith the Senate and the 
country, I have learned the sad event wliich has 
been announced to-day. 

A life of public service, hardship, danger, and 
glory has been suddenly closed. That Providence 
Avhich protected the late President amidst the perils 
of his long, faithful, and splendid military career, 
and which permitted him to reap the harvest of 
admiration and affection which had grown up for 
him in the hearts of his countrymen, has removed 
him from us before the measure of his usefulness 
Avas full. That life which was ever devoted to 
the service of his country, was yielded up while 
he was in the discharge of the highest civil trusts 
— trusts not sought by him, but imposed upon him 
])y the people. To the performance of those trusts 
lie had brought the pledges of an unstained life, 
of a pure and fer\'ent patriotism, of stern integrity. 



'l-y 



of a kind and benignant temper, of unyielding firm- 
ness, and of unmixed devotion to the welliire of that 
country which he had served so well, and which 
so freely and worthily bestowed its confidence on 
him. 

Few men have had better fortune than he — none 
better deserved it. The virtues of his simple and 
modest, but heroic character, had so endeared him 
to his fellow-citizens, that I am sure I may venture 
to say, that, even in the midst of the political strife 
which he ever sought to moderate and soften, there 
is not one whose heart will not throb with emotion 
when he learns the death of Zachart Taylor. 

Mr. King. — Mr. Secretary, it is not my design, 
after the eloquent tribute that has been paid to the 
memory of the ^ deceased President of the United 
States, to add many words to what has already fallen 
from the honourable gentlemen. It was my fortune 
to have been personally and intimately acquainted 
with the distinguished individual, who has been 
called away from among us, for more than five-and- 
twenty years past. My relations with him, for a 
portion of that period, were of such a character as 
enabled me to form, I think, a correct estimate of 
the man, and to appreciate, as I did most highly, his 
many estimable quaUties ; and I can say that, in all 
the relations of life, he so bore himself as to com- 



— ^ <i 

26 

mand the respect aud regard of his associates, of all 
who had the honour of his acquaintance, and the 
devoted attachment of his numerous friends. As a 
man, he was surpassed by none in honesty of purpose. 
He was -without guile. As a soldier, all know, and 
none more than those I address, that he had won 
laurels that would have graced the brow of the first 
soldier in Europe or America. It was my fortune. 
Senators, to l^e hi Europe at the time when the news 
reached there, that the gallant general of our forces 
on the Eio Grande, the late President of the United 
States, was surrounded, or supposed to be sur- 
rounded, hy an overwhelming force; that he Avas 
cut off from his supplies, and was, with his gallant 
band, in danger of destruction. Every 'American 
heart beat with anxiety and fear. We felt, as Ame- 
ricans should feel, that a reverse then would cast 
in some degree a cloud over the country of our birth. 
But when the news reached us, that the gallant 
general of that little band had marched from his 
position, regardless of the danger, had placed Point 
Isabel, where his stores were deposited, in a state 
of security, retraced his footsteps, met and conquered 
the foe at Resaca de la Palma ; no man but he who 
was away from his country in a foreign land, could 
have felt what we, as American citizens, felt at those 
tidings. Senators ! the gallantry of that man was 
appreciated not only by his countrymen, but it was 



27 

felt and appreciated b}' the first military iiieii of 
Europe. The li\ang hero of the age, the great Duke 
of Wellington, declared, as Napoleon had declared 
of himself, on a certain occasion, " General Taylor 
is a general, indeed." I therefore. Senators, am not 
surprised that the enthusiastic spirit of the Ameri- 
can people led them to support a man whose patriot- 
ism, whose devotion to his countrj^, whose gallantry, 
and whose successful services on the field, must have 
endeared him to the hearts of all. As a man, I have 
said, he was honest of purpose. His patriotism, his 
devotion to the Constitution of his countrj'-, under 
which he cherished and sustained our free institu- 
tions, I have never questioned. I think I knew him 
well; and I believe there was no man more patriotic. 
If errors were committed in the civil administration 
of the government, I shall draw the curtain over 
them. No longer would I feel justified in holding 
them up to public gaze, even if they had been ten 
times as glaring as they were. The countrv has 
reason to deplore the death of a great man ; and, I 
must be permitted to add, a good man. He has 
gone from among us, and the afllictive event has 
been appealed to, to induce us to cultivate and 
cherish kind relations. I trust in God, that these 
kind relations will be cherished, and that we shall, 
on this day, vow on the altar of our country-, to dis- 
card all bickering and strife, all sectional dissensions. 



28 

and live and die as Americans should live and die, 
in suj)port of the Constitution and the Union. 

Mr. Berriex. — Senators! I comply Tvith a re- 
quest which has been made to me this morning by 
a respected associate, and obey the impulses of my 
own personal feelings, in making this brief trespass 
on your time. It is not my purpose, in t;hese unpre- 
meditated remarks, to pronounce an eulogium on 
the departed Chief Magistrate. That has been 
amply done already, in terms at once impressive and 
eloquent. Nor do I propose to indulge the expres- 
sion of individual and personal feeUng ; such feehng 
may be left appropriately to repose in the bosojn of 
him who cherishes it. Nor yet do I seek to give 
feeble and imperfect utterance to a nation's grief; 
that will be done by our countr3''men in their pri- 
mary assemblages, as this melancholy mtelligence 
flies with lightnmg speed to the remotest borders of 
the Republic, and with a freshness, and vividness, 
and force which the feehngs of a free and sensitive 
people mil impart to the expression of emotions 
springing directly from their o^vn sorrowing hearts. 
We should vainly attempt by anticipation to give 
utterance to their feelings. Still less would I ven- 
ture to intrude upon the mourning inmates of that 
domestic circle, who are now clustering round the 
mortal remains of a departed husband and father ; 



*- 



29 

for the sorrows of widowhood and of orphanage arc 
sacred. But concurring, as I do most cordially, in 
the sentiments which have been so touchingly and 
eloquently expressed in various portions of this 
chamber, if I could succeed in adding one, even the 
slightest motive — in furnishing one, even the feeblest 
incentive, to the suggestion which honourable Sena- 
tors have urged of the use which we ought to make 
of this afflictive dispensation of Providence, my pur- 
pose will have been accomplished — ^my duty will 
have been fulfilled. In, my reflections upon this 
subject, I have felt that this solemn event is, in its 
results, to be eminently productive of good or of evil 
to our common country; and in humble reliance on 
the blessing and guidance of a beneficent Pro^-i- 
dence, it depends upon us, Senators, and our asso- 
ciates, in the discharge of the important trusts 
which are committed to this highest legislative 
assembly of a free people — it depends essentially 
upon us and the co-ordinate department of the 
government to improve this aftlictive dispensation 
of Almighty God, to pui-poses at once salutary and 
beneficial to the great interests of the country. If 
we can feel that in the sudden death of our patriot 
chieftain — in this abrupt summons of one who was 
" without fear and without reproach" — in the vigour 
of life, and in the full enjo}^inent of the highest 
honours — the most gratifying reward which the un- 



-® 



30 

bought homage of a free people could accord to him 
— if we can feel the solemnity of this sudden call 
of an individual so esteemed, so honoured, so sur- 
rounded with all that could contribute to the happi- 
ness of man — if we can truly appreciate the lesson 
which such a dispensation is calculated to impart, 
then. Senators, consequences the most beneficial may 
result from it. If it shall teach us to reahze the com- 
parative littleness of sublunary things — if it shall 
enable us in sincerity to feel that this transitory life 
in which we are sometime^ struggling, in the bitter 
dissensions which pohtical parties or sectional divi- 
sions are but too apt to engender — that the brief term 
of our continuance here is but a single step in the 
series of infinite existence — a mere point at which 
man pauses to look around him before he launches on 
eternity's ocean — if we can justly estimate ourselves, 
and rightly appreciate the duties which devolve upon 
us, we shall indeed have extracted from this melan- 
choly event that salutary and Ijeneficent lesson, 
which, in the goodness of Providence, it was de- 
signed to impart. If, on the altar of our common 
country, we can sacrifice the bitterness of partj^ and 
of sectional feeling — if, at this moment, when the 
heart of a great nation is palpitating with anxiety-, 
we can come to the discharge of the high and solemn 
duties which devolve upon us with hearts purified by 
aflliction, in the singleness and sincerity of jDurpose 



31 

and ill the humility of spirit Avhich become us, this 
mehmcholy dispensation of Providence will indeed 
have been productive of results most salutary to the 
great interests of the American people. And believe 
me, Senators, if a result so propitious could have 
been foreshadowed to that departed patriot in the 
last struiTiilincr moments of his existence, it would 
have soothed the agonies of his dying hour. 

I am permitted to say, in illustration of tlie strong 
and patriotic feeling which animated him in the 
latest moments of his existence, even when the light 
of intellect was flickering in the socket — I am per- 
mitted to repeat the expression of the departed pa- 
triot, as his recollections turned to the recent visit 
he had made to the monument now being erected to 
the memory of Washington : " Let it rise, (he said ;) 
let it ascend without interruption ; let it point to the 
skies ; let it stand for ever as a lasting monument 
of the gratitude and affection of a free people to the 
Father of his Country." 

The resolutions were then unanimously adopted. 

A message from the House of Representatives by Mr. 
Young, their clerk. 

Mr. Pkesidext : The House of Representatives 
have passed a Eesolution expressive of their sensi- 
bility at the removal from this life of Zaciiary 
Taylor, late President of the United States ; and 



appointing a committee on their part to join the 
committee appointed on the part of the Senate, to 
consider and report what measures it may be proper 
to adopt in order to show the respect and affection 
of Congress for the memory of the illustrious de- 
ceased, and to make the necessary arrangements for 
his funeral. 

On motion of Mr. Webster, the resolution of the House 
was unanimously concurred in, and it was ordered that 
Messrs. Webster, Cass, and King, be the committee on 
the part of the Senate. 

The Senate then adjourned. 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 
Wednesday, July 10, 1850. 



The Speaker called the House to order at eleven 
o'clock. 

The Rev. Doctor Butler, Chaplain of the Senate, made 

the following prayer : 

Almighty God, King of kings, and Lord of 
lords, who only hath immortality, dwelUng in the 
light which no man can approach unto, thou doest 
according to thy will in the army of Heaven and 
among the inhabitants of the earth. Just and true 
are thy ways, thou King of saints. Clouds and 
darkness are about thy throne; but righteousness 
and judgment are the habitation of thy seat! 

Thou hast seen fit. Almighty God, to take out of 
tliis world our beloved and honoured Chief Magis- 
trate, the President of these United States. Thou 
didst cover his head in the day of battle ; and thou 
hast given his life to the sickness that destroyeth 
at the noon-day. We desire to bow in resignation 
to thv blessed will, and to realize that thou doest 



34 

all things well. Now that thy judgments are 
abroad in the land, make us to learn and love and 
practise righteousness. 

We ask thy special blessing for thy servant upon 
Avhom thy providence hath devolved the momentous 
duties of the Chief Magistracy of this Pwepublic. 
Thou hast seen fit to summon him to the great 
duties of his new position in a crisis of gloom, and 
storm, and danger. Let thy fatherly hand ever be 
over him. Let thy Holy Spirit ever be with him. 
Give him the spirit of wisdom and understanding; 
the spirit of counsel and ghostly strength -, the spirit 
of knowledge and true godliness j and fill him with 
thy holy fear now and for ever. Preserve him in 
health and prosperity; and so bless his adminis- 
tration, that all the States of this vast Republic, re- 
conciled, happy, and fraternal, may be able unitedly 
to adore Thee for thy goodness, and to declare that 
The Lord of Hosts is with us — the God of Jacob is 
our refuge ! 

Bless the deliberations of the Senate and Repre- 
sentatives in Congress assembled, to the advance- 
ment of thy glory, the good of thy church, the 
safety, honour, and welfare of thy people; that 
peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion ami 
piety may be established among us for all gone- 
rations. 

Look with pity upon the sorrows of thy servants, 



the family of the departed Chief Magistrate of this 
huul. Keiiieiiiber them, Lord, in mercy; sanctify 
th}- fatherly corixjction to them; endow their souls 
with patience under their affliction, and with resig- 
nation to thy blessed will; comfort them with a 
sense of thy goodness; lift up thy countenance 
upon them, and give them peace. 

Grant, Lord, that when we shall be summoned 
to go the way of all the earth, we may die in the com- 
munion of thy church, in the confidence of a certain 
faith, in the comfort of a religious and holy hope, in 
favour with thee, our God, and in charity with 
the world. 

All which we ask and offer in the name and for 
the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. 
Amen! 

The Speaker then vacated the Chair. 
A pause of some minutes followed. 

At eighteen minutes past eleven o'clock 
The Speaker resumed the Chair. 

Mr. Stanly moved that the reading of the Journal of 
yesterday be dispensed with. 
Ordered accordingly. 

George P. Fisher, Esq., appeared at the bar and stated 
that he was directed by the President of the United States, 
to deliver to the House of Representatives a message in 
writing. 



36 

The message was read. 

[See it in the proceedings of the Senate.] 

The two Houses of Congress having assembled in the 
Hall of the House of Representatives, and the oath of 
office prescribed by the Constitution having been adminis- 
tered by Chief-Justice Cranch to Millard Fillmore, 
President of the United States, and the President and 
Senate having retired from the Hall, 

A message in writing was received from the President 
of the United States, by George P. Fisher, Esq., which 
was read. 

[See the message above, in the proceedings of the 
Senate.] 

Whereupon Mr. Coxrad of Louisiana rose and ad- 
dressed the House as follows: 

Mr. Speaker : — In accordance with a wish ex- 
pressed by many members, I have prepared a reso- 
lution adapted to the melancholy event which has 
just been announced, and which I propose to offer 
to the House. Before doing so, however, I would 
do violence to my own feelings, as a representative 
of that State of which the illustrious deceased was 
a citizen and the brightest ornament, if I did not 
offer some remarks appropriate to the occasion. 
Seldom has an event occurred which more strik- 
ingly illustrates the uncertaint}^ of life and the in- 
stability of all earthly greatness than the one we 
are called upon to deplore. 



37 

A few days ago General Taylor was in his usual 
robust health. On the fourth of this month he 
attended some ceremonies which took place in com- 
memoration of the anniversary of our national in- 
dependence. As the ceremonies occurred in the 
open air, it is believed that the exposure to a heat 
of unusual intensity produced the malady which, 
at about half-past ten o'clock last night, terminated 
his earthly career. A great patriot has fallen ! A 
great benefactor of his country has departed from 
among us ! In a few hours a nation will be plunged 
in mourning, and a voice of lamentation will ascend 
from twenty millions of people ! 

It is not my purpose, Mr. Speaker, to dwell at 
length on the public career and military achieve- 
ments of General Taylor. These belong to the 
history of his country, and are deeply engraven on 
the memories and hearts of his countrymen. I 
prefer to dwell on those minor traits of his cha- 
racter which, as they exert a less perceptible influ- 
ence on the destinies of nations, are too often over- 
looked by the historian. 

General Taylor's was not one of those characters, 
of which history furnishes many conspicuous ex- 
amples, in which many great defects are conceali 'I 
amid the dazzling splendour of a single virtue. On 
the luminous disc of his character no dark spots are 
perceptible. IIis biographer will have no great fol- 



8 

38 



lies to conceal, or faults to excuse, or crimes to pal- 
liate or condemn. There is no dark passage in Jus 
life which justice will l^e called u]X)n to condemn, 
or morality to reprove, or humanity to deplore. 
Like the finished production of an artist, the details 
of the picture are as correct and as lx?autiful as the 
general outline is grand and imposing. 

His heroic courage and military genius are those 
qualities to which he is chiefly indebted for his 
fame, and yet those who knew him best would not 
consider them the prominent attributes of his cha- 
racter. On the contrary, this courage appeared 
only an adventitious quality, occasionally developed 
by circumstances requiring its exercise. His pro- 
minent characteristics, always manifest, were an 
unaffected modesty, combined with extraordinary 
firmness, a stem sense of duty, a love of justice 
tempered and softened by a spirit of universal be- 
nevolence, an inflexible integrity, a truthfulness that 
knew no dissimulation, a sincerity and frankness 
which rendered concealment or disguise absolutely 
impossible. 

These were the traits that endeared him to his 
friends, and inspired with confidence all who ap- 
proached him. These were the qualities which in 
private life made him the upright man, the valuable 
citizen, the devoted friend, the affectionate huskxnd, 
the fond father, the kind and indulgent master, and 



39 

^vllic•b, brought into i)ublic life, made him the dis- 
interested patriot, and the fliithful and conscientious 
magisti*ate. His martial courage was set off and 
relieved by this group of civic virtues, as the bril- 
liancy of the diamond is enhanced by the gem^ of 
softer ray by which it is encircled. 

The mass of the people in all countries possess 
a wonderful sagacity in detecting the prominent 
traits of their distinguished men. The American 
people are inferior to none in this quality; and they 
soon discovered and appreciated the merits of Ge- 
neral Taylor. It is not surprising, therefore, that 
they called hiiu, almost by acclamation, to fill the 
first office in their gift. 

It is so common for the most ambitious men to 
affect a reluctance in accepting those very honours 
which they have long and ardently coveted, that 
we are apt to consider all such professions as indi- 
cating feelings the very reverse of those they 
express. Those, however, who knew General Tay- 
LOE well, entertained no doubt of the entire sin- 
cerity of his declarations when he was called upon 
to be a candidate for the office of President. 

The excitement of politics had no charm for one 
who had always been extremely averse to political 
controversy. The pomp and splendour of the pre- 
sidential mansion had no temptations for one who 
was alwa3's remarkable for the simplicity of his 



»- 



ft 

40 

tastes and the frugality of liis habits. Add to this, 
that his unaffected modesty and inexperience in 
pubhc affairs led him sincerely to distrust his abi- 
lity to discharge the duties of this high and respon- 
sible station. 

At no period of our history^ indeed, was the exe- 
cutive chair surrounded by more difficulties than 
those which encompassed it when he was called on 
to occupy it. Party spirit was still raging with 
unabated fury; a dark cloud was visible on the 
horizon, which portended that a storm of unusual 
violence was approaching, and v^oald shortly burst 
forth. Under such circumstances, a man even of 
stouter heart than his might well hesitate before 
he consented to embark on this " sea of troubles." 
Yielding, however, to the public voice, and to the 
arguments and persuasion of his friends, he did 
embark. The tempest arose ; and in the midst of 
its fury, while the vessel of state was tossed to 
and fro, and all eyes were turned with a confidence 
not unmingled with anxiety on the pilot who, calm 
and collected, guided her course, that pilot was sud- 
denly swept from the helm 1 

Here let us pause ! Let us avail ourselves of the 
momentary calm which this sad event has produced, 
and calmly survey the perils that surround us — the 
lowering heavens above, the raging billows below, 
the breakers on our right, the shoals on our left. 



41 

Let us prepare to meet these dangers like men and 
like patriots, to overcome them. Let us not despair 
of the Republic. On the contrary, let us determine 
that she must be saved, and she will be saved. The 
clouds that overhang us will l^e dispersed, and the 
glorious stars oftour Union will again shine forth 
with their wonted splendour. 

I beg leave to. submit the following resolutions : — 

Whereas, it has pleased Divine Providence to remove 
from this life Zachary Taylor, late President of the 
United States, the House of Representatives, sharing in 
the general sorrow -which this melancholy event must pro- 
duce, is desirous of manifesting its sensibility on the occa- 
sion ; Therefore, 

Jlesolved, That a committee, consisting of members, 

be appointed on the part of this House, to meet such com- 
mittee as may be appointed on the part of the Senate, to 
consider and report what measures it may be deemed proper 
to adopt in order to show the respect and affection of Con- 
gress for the memory of the illustrious deceased, and to 
make the necessary arrangements for his funeral. 

Hesolvedj That this resolution bo communicated to the 
Senate. 

Mr. "WiNTHROP rose to second the resolutions, and pro- 
ceeded as follows : 

It would not be easily excused, Mr. Speaker, by 
those whom I represent in this Hall, if there were 
no Massachusetts voice to respond to the eulogy 



42 

A\liicli has been pronounced by Louisiana upon her 
illustrious and lamented son. Indeed, neither my 
personal feelings nor my political relations either to 
the living or to the dead would permit me to remain 
altogether silent on this occasion. And yet, sir, I 
confess, I know not ho\v" to say a*iy thing satisfac- 
tory to m^-self, or suitable to the circumstances of 
the hour. 

The event which has just been officially an- 
nounced, has come upon us so suddenly — has so 
overwhelmed us Avith mingled emotions of surprise 
and sadness — that all ordinary forms of expression 
seem to lose their significance, and one would fain 
bow his head to the blow in silence, until its first 
shock has in some degree passed away. 

Certainly, sir, no one can fail to realize that a 
most momentous and mysterious Providence has 
been manifested in our midst. At a moment when, 
more than almost ever before in our history, the 
destinies of our country seemed, to all human sight, 
to be inseparably associated with the character and 
conduct of its Chief Executive Magistrate, that 
Magistrate has been summoned from his post, by 
the only messenger whose mandates he might not 
liave defied, and has been withdraAm for ever from 
the sphere of human existence ! 

There are those of us, I need not say, sir, who 
had looked to him with affection and reverence as 



43 

our chosen leader and guide in the diiTiculties and 
perplexities by which we are surrounded. There 
are those of us, who had relied confidently on him, 
as upon no other man, to uphold the Constitution and 
maintain the Union of the country in that future, upon 
which "shadows, clouds and darkness" may well 
l)e said to rest. And, as we now behold him, borne 
away by the hand of God from our sight, in the 
very hour of peril, we can hardly repress the exclar 
mation, which was addressed to the departing pro- 
phet of old : " My father, my father ! the chariot of 
Israel, and the horsemen thereof!" 

Let me not even seem to im[)ly, however, that 
the death of General Taylor is any thing less than 
a national loss. There may be, and we know there 
is, in this event, a privileged and preeminent grief 
for his immediate family and relatives, to which we 
can only offer the assurance of our heartfelt sympa- 
thy. There is, too, a peculiar sorrow for his politi- 
cal friends and supporters, which we would not 
affect to conceal. But the whole people of tlio 
United States will feel and will l)c;ir Avitucss. when 
they receive these melancholy tidings, that they 
have all been called to sustain a most adlicting 
National bereavement. 

I hazard nothing, sir, in saying, that the roll of 
our Chief Magistrates, since 1780, illustrious as it 
is, presents the name of no man, who has enjoyed 



44 

a higher reputation -with his contemporaries, or who 
will enjoy a higher reputation with posterity, for 
some of the best and noblest qualities which adorn 
our nature, than Zachary Taylor. 

His indomitable courage, his unimpeachable 
honesty, his Spartan simplicity and sagacity, his 
frankness, kindness, moderation, and magnanimity, 
his fidelity to his friends, his generosity and human- 
ity to his enemies, the purity of his private life, the 
patriotism of his public principles, will never cease 
to be cherished in the grateful remembrance of all 
just men and all true-hearted Americans. 

As a Soldier and a General, his fame is associated 
with some of the proudest and most thrilling scenes 
of our military history. He may be literally said to 
have conquered every enemy he has met, save only 
that Ictst emmy, to which we must all, in turn, sur- 
render. 

As a Civilian and Statesman, during the brief 
period in which he has been permitted to enjoy the 
transcendent honours which a grateful couutrj- had 
awarded him, he has given proof of a devotion to 
duty, of an attachment to the Constitution and the 
Union, of a patriotic determination to maintain the 
Peace of our country, which no trials or temptations 
could shake. He has borne his faculties meekly, 
but firmly. He has been " clear in his great office." 
lie has knoAni no local partialities or prejudices, 



45 

but has proved liiinself capable of embracing his 
-whole country in the comprehensive affections and 
regards of a large and generous heart. 

But he has fallen almost at the threshold of his civil 
career, and at a moment when some of us were looking 
to him to render services to the country, which we had 
thought no other man could perfonn. Certainly, sir, 
he has died too soon for everybody but himself We 
can hardly find it in our hearts to repine, that the 
good old man has gone to his rest. We would not 
disturb the repose in which the brave old soldier sleeps. 
His part in life had been long and faithfully performed. 
Li his o\ra last words, " he had always done his duty, 
and he was not afraid to die." But our regrets for 
ourselves and for our country are deep, strong, and 
unfeigned. " He should have died hereafter." 

Sir, it was a fit and beautiful circumstance in the 
close of such a career, that his last official appear- 
ance was at the celebration of the Birthday of our 
National Independence, and, more especially, that 
his last public act was an act of homage to the 
memory of h'nn. whose example he had ever revered 
and followed, and who, as he himself so well said, 
''' was, by so many titles, the Father of his Country." 

And now, Mr. Speaker, let us hope that this 
event may teach us all how vain is our reliance 
upon any arm of flesh. Let us hope that it may 
impress us with a solemn sense of our National as 



46 

well as individual dependence on a higher than 
human Power. Let us remember, sir, that "the 
Lord is king, be the people never so impatient; 
that he sitteth between the cherubim, be the earth 
never so unquiet." Let us — in language which is 
now hallowed to us all, as having been the closing 
and crowning sentiment of the brief but admirable 
Liaugural Address with which this illustrious 
patriot opened his presidential term, and which 
it is my privilege to read at this moment from the 
very copy from which it was originally read by him- 
self to the American people, on the -jth day of 
March, 1849 — let us, in language in which "he, 
being dead, yet speaketh" — " Let us invoke a continu- 
ance of the same Protecting Care icJuch has led us 
from small heglnnlmjs to tJie eminence ice this day oc- 
cupy ; ami let us seek to deserve tlmt continuance hy 
iwudeiwe and moderation in our councils; hy icell- 
dlrectal cdtempts to assitage tJie bitterness ichlch too 
often marlcs unavoklahle differences of opinion; hy the 
p)romidgatlon and practice of just and liberal ptrlncl- 
pilcs; ami by an enlarged patrlotmn, which shall ac- 
hioidcdge iw limits but those of our own widespread 
liejyulllc." 

Mr. Baker said : — 

Mr. Speaker: — It is often said of sorrow, that, 
like death, it levels all distinctions. The humblest 



47 

lieart can heave a ^igli as deep as the proudest ; and 
I avail in \ self of this mounifnl privilege to swell 
the accents of grief which have been poured forth 
to-day with a larger though not more sincere utter- 
ance. A second time since the formation of this 
Government a President of the United States has 
been stricken by death in the performance of his 
great duties. The blow which strikes the man falls 
upon a nation's heart, and the words of saddened 
praise which falls upon our ears to-day, and here, 
are but echoes of the thoughts that throng in the 
hearts of the millions that mourn him everi/whcrc. 
You have no doubt observed, sir, that in the first 
moments of a great loss the instincts of affection 
prompt us to summon up the good and great quali- 
ties of those for whom we weep. It is a wise ordi- 
nation of Di\ine Pro\ddence ; a generous pride tem- 
pers and restrains the hitterness of grief, and noble 
deeds and heroic ^^rtues shed a consoling light upon 
the tomlj. It is in this spirit that I recur for an 
instant, and for an instant onli/, to the events of a 
history fresh in the remembrance of the nation and 
the world. The late President of the United States 
has devoted his whole life to the service of his coun- 
try. Of a nature singularly unambitious, he seems 
to have combined the utmost gentleness of nuinner 
with the greatest firmness of pui-pose. For more 
than thirty years the duties of his station confined 



48 

him to a sphere where only those who knew him 
most intimately could perceive the qualities which 
danger quickened and brightened into sublimity and 
grandeur. In the late war with Great Britain he 
was but a captain ; yet the little band who defended 
Fort Harrison saw amid the smoke of battle that 
they were commanded by a man fit for his station. 
In the Florida campaign he commanded but a bri- 
gade; yet his leadership not only evinced courage 
and conduct, but inspired these qualities in the 
meanest soldier in his ranks. He begun the Mexi- 
can campaign at the head only of a division; yet 
as the events of the war swelled that division into 
an army, so the crisis kindled him into higher re- 
solves and nobler actions, till the successive steps 
of advance became the assured march of victory. 

Mr. Speaker, as we review the brilUant and stir- 
ring passages of the events to which I refer, it is 
not in the power even of sudden grief to suppress 
the admiration which thrills our hearts. When, sir, 
has there been such a campaign — when such sol- 
diers to be led — and when such qualities of leader- 
ship so variously combined ? How simple, but yet 
how grand, was the announcement, " In whatever 
force the enemy may be, I shall fight him." It gave 
Palo Alto and Resaca to our banner. How stead- 
fast the resolution that impelled the advance to 
Monterey ! How stirring the courage which be- 



49 

leaguered the fro'vviiing city — Avliich stormed tlie 
barricaded street — ^which carried the embattled 
heights, and won and kept the whole ! Nor, sir, 
can we forget that in the flush of victory, the gen- 
tle heart stayed the bold hand, while the conquer- 
ing soldier offered sacrifices on the altar of p/^//, 
amid all the exultation of triumph. 

Sir, I may not stop to speak of the achievements 
of Buena Vista : they are deeds that will never die 
— it was the great event of the age, a contest of 
races and institutions. An army of volunteers, 
engaged not in an impetuous advance, but in a 
stern defence of chosen ground against superior 
force, and in a last extremity — men who had never 
seen fire faced the foe with the steadiness of vete- 
rans. Sir, as long as those frowning heights and 
bloody ravines shall remain, these recollections will 
endure, and with them, the name of the man who 
steadied every rank, and kindled every eye by the 
indomitable resolution which would not yield, and 
the exalted spirit which rose highest amid the great- 
est perils. It was from scenes like these he was 
called to the Chief Magistracy. It was a summons 
unexpected and unsought — the spontaneous expres- 
sion of a noble confidence, the just reward of great 
actions. It may not be proper to speak here and 
now of the manner which these new duties were 
executed ; but I may say, that here, as everywhere 



60 

else, lie exhibited the same firmness and decision 
which had marked his life. He was honest and 
unostentatious; he obej-ed the law and loved the 
Constitution ; he dealt ^vith difficult questions with 
a singleness of purpose which is the truest pilot 
amid storms. Nor can it be doubted that when im- 
partial history shall record the events of his admi- 
nistration, they will be found worthy of his past 
life, and a firm foundation for his future renown. 

You remember, Mr. Speaker, that when the great 
Athenian philosopher Avas inquired of by the L^-dian 
king as to who was the happiest among men, he 
declared that no man should be pronounced happy 
till his death. The President of the United States 
has so finished a noble life, as to justify the pride 
and admiration of his countrymen — he has faced 
the last enemy with a manly firmness and a bc- 
comins; resolution. He died where an American 
citizen would most desire to die — not amid embat- 
tled hosts and charging squadrons, but amid weep- 
ing friends aiul an anxious nation — in the house 
provided by its gratitude, only to be taken thence, 
to a "house not made with hands, eternal in tlio 
heavens." 

Sir, in the death which has caused so much dis- 
may, there is a becoming resemblance to the life 
■which has created so much confidence. His closing 
hours were marked with a beautiful calmness; his 



■^ 



51 

last expressions indicated a manly sense of bis own 
worth, and a consciousness that he had done his 
duty. Nor can I omit to remark, that it is this 
sense of the obligation of duty which appears to 
have been the true basis of his character. In Ijoy- 
hood and in age — as Captain and as General — 
whether defending a fort against savages, or exer- 
cising the functions of the Chief Magistracy, duty, 
rather than glory — self-approval, rather than re- 
nown, have prompted the deeds which have made 
him immortal. 

Mr. Speaker, the character upon which death 
has just set his seal is filled with beautiful and im- 
pressive contrasts; — a warrior, he loved peace; a 
man of action, he sighed for retirement. Amid the 
events wdiich crowned him with fame, he counseled 
a withdrawal of our troops. And, whether at the 
head of armies, or in the Chair of State, he appeared 
as utterly unconscious of his great renoAvn as if no 
banners had drooped at his word, or as if no gleam 
of glory shone through his whitened hair. It is re- 
lated of Epaminondas, that wlien fatally wounded 
at the battle of Mantinea, they bore him to a heiglit 
from whence, ^vith fiiding glance, he surveyed the 
fortunes of the light, and when the field was won, 
laid himself do\\m to die; tlie friends who gathered 
aromid him wept his early liill, and passionately^ ex- 
pressed their sorrow that he died childless. "Not 



^ 



n 

52 

so/' said the hero, with his last breath, " for do I 
not leave two fair daughters, Leuctra and Mantinea?" 
General Taylor is more fortunate, since he leaves 
an excellent and most worthy family to deplore his 
loss and inherit his glory. Nor is he fortunate in 
this only, since, like Epaminondas, he leaves not 
only two battles, but four — Palo Alto, Eesaca, 
Monterey, Buena Vista — the grand creations of his 
genius and valour, to be remembered as long as 
truth and courage appeal to the human heart. 

Mr. Speaker, the occasion and the scene impress 
upon us a deep sense of the instability of all human 
concerns, so beautifully alluded to by my friend 
from Massachusetts, [Mr. Winthrop.] The great 
southern Senator is no longer among us. The 
President during whose administration the war 
commenced, sleeps in "the house appointed for all 
the Hving f and the great soldier who led the ad- 
vance and assured the triumph, "lies like a warrior 
taldng his rest." Ah ! sir, if in this assemblage, 
there is a man whose heart beats with a tumultuous 
and unrestrained ambition, let him to-day stand by 
the bier upon which that lifeless body is laid, and 
learn how much of human greatness fades in an 
hour; but if there be another man here whose 
fainting heart shrinks from a noble purpose, let him, 
too, visit those sacred remains, to be reminded how 
much there is in true glory that can never die. 



Mr. Bayly, taking the floor, said : 

Mr. Speaker: Representing in part the native 
State of the illustrious dead, it may not be nnproper 
for me, in behalf of her delegation, to add a word to 
what has already been said. However much she 
may have differed with him while living, there is 
not one that mourns more deeply his sudden death. 
No State felt a loftier pride in his mihtary achieve- 
ments, or admired more his private virtues. None 
will drop a tear of more heai'tfelt sorrow upon his 
bier. 

I hope it will not be deemed inappropriate for me 
to indulge in some reflections suggested by the occa- 
sion. For the second time, Mr. Speaker, in our 
pohtical history, our national government is to be 
subjected to the trial of being administered by a 
President not elected by the people to that office. 
The first was severe enough ; but this must be still 
more so. How different is our situation now from 
what it was then ! Then, it is true, we were in a 
condition of high political excitement. But it was 
the elevation or do^^'nfall of parties which depended 
upon the result. Now we are in the midst of an 
angry sectional strife, threatening the very existence 
of the government itself If that crisis required 
prudence, moderation, and wasdom to insure success 
to the experunent, how much more will the one in 
which we now find ourselves demand the exercise 



54 

of those high qualities I Sir, in the very midst of 
the tempest, when the storm is howhng about us, 
and when all is uncertainty and alarm, the captain 
has been unexpectedly swept from the deck, and the 
second in command has just taken charge of the 
helm. If this loss has added to their anxiety, 
it but increases the obligation of fidelity on the 
part of the crew, upon whose fidelity at last the 
safety of the shij) depends. Sir, we, that crew, owe 
it to ourselves, to those who have trusted us where 
we are — we owe it to mankind to save her from her 
perils. 

Heretofore, when deluges have swept over the 
eastern continent, obliterating the vestiges of liberty, 
our country has been looked to as the Mount Ararat, 
upon which the Ark, laden with all that was dear 
to freedom, might rest mth safety. Shall we now 
fan the infernal fires which are kindling in its bosom, 
and convert it into a terrible volcano, eructating its 
dreadful lava, and spreading ruin and devastation 
around? My ardent prayer is, that there is still 
enough of the spirit of our fathers among us to save 
mankind from this awful catastrophe. 

Sir, as much as I have always admired our insti- 
tutions, I am free to admit that I have never seen 
llu'ir beauties ii bolder relief than to-day. The 
scene which has just been enacted before us has con- 
verted my admiration, as I doubt not it has that of 



'00 



all of us, almost into idolatry itself. In the midst 
of such a crisis as the Union of these States never 
found itself in before — one threatening its downfall — 
in the very focus of the excitement which has pro- 
duced it, we have seen the executive l)ranch of the 
government, with all of its enormous power, pass, 
without the conflict of dynasties, bo quietly from one 
set of hands to another, that but for the sadness 
which ix3sts upon the brows of those around me, no 
one would conjecture that any thing unusual had 
occurred! Where else could such a scene be wit- 
nessed ? In the history of what other government 
is its parallel to be found ? Is there not enough — I 
apix'al to my countrymen — in the reflections sug- 
gested by what is passing around us, to awaken the 
nation to a sense of that justice and patriotism ])y 
which alone can the blessings we enjoy be preserved 
to ourselves and mankind ? 

^h. IIiLLlAPvD rose and said : 

Mr. Speaker, at the suggestion of those in whose 
judgment I have confidence, I rise to oflor an humble 
tribute to the memory of the great man who h:is 
just fallen in our midst. If he were living, I should 
leave others to eulogize him ; as he is dead, I choose 
to speak of him. And yet I am so overwhelmed by 
the event which has just o«x'urred, that I can 
scarcely find language to express ^^■hat I feel. Some 



»' 



56 

events are so impressive that they leave little occar 
siou for words — they are too great to be enlarged on. 
I am almost ready to follow the example of a great 
French orator, who, when called on to pronounce a 
funeral oration upon a deceased monarch, laid his 
hand upon the head of the dead king, and ex- 
claimed : " There is nothing great but God." Sir, 
there is nothing great but God. 

General Taylor's whole career illustrated the 
high qualities which so eminently distinguished him. 
I do not dwell upon his battle-fields — they belong to 
history, and they will find a place upon the bright- 
est pages which record such exploits. Nor shall I 
speak of his courage — it is unnecessary; that is 
attested by hard-fought fields, and brilliant victories 
won under his eye against overwhelming numljers. 
But I wish to speak of that high sense of duty 
which characterized his whole life — ^that steady pur- 
pose to do what he iDelieved to be right, at all times 
and in all places. In the performance of duty, 
nothing could move him — ho marched directly ujion 
the road where that called him. The reference 
to this trait in his character has been appropriately 
made b}^ the gentleman from Illinois, [Mr. Baker,] 
and it deserves to be observed and dwelt upon. To 
him, as fully as to any one I have ever known, may 
1)0 applied the high eulogium of '■' incornqyfa JiiJcs' — 
he kept his faith with all men. You might dissent 



57 

from his oijinioiis — you might find fault with his 
judgment, but when he took his position, he kept 
it — his sense of duty sustained him, and opposition 
only served to make him the more steadfast in 
holding it. 

It is said of Napoleon, that the great quality 
■which distinguished him, next to his genius, was his 
love of glory; so that when he marched his army 
into Egypt, the appeal which he made to them on 
the eve of battle was, " Soldiers, forty centuiies 
look down upon you from these pyramids." 

General Taylor rather resembled Lord Nelson, 
who, when about to engage the enemy's fleet, sent 
to his several officers in command of his ships the 
words, ''England expects every man to do his 
dutf/." 

This was the constant aim of the illustrious man 
who has just been called away from us. This 
great quality which sheds such lustre upon his 
name, gave him that success which so uniformly 
attended him. "When about to engage in battle at 
Buena Vista with the overwhelming army opposed 
to him, he comprehended the danger which invested 
him, but he had made up his mind that it was his 
duty to stand there, and in his OAni beautiful lan- 
guage, "wi'itten before the engagement, he '*' looked to 
Providence for a good result." 

General Taylor's character was American — <lis- 



58 

tinctlj and decidedly American. He was invited 
to quit the army and take the Chief Magistracy of 
the EepubHc. He did so with unaffected reluctance, 
from a sincere distrust of his fitness for such a sta- 
tion. But as in the anny he had obeyed every order 
of his Government, he now obeyed the call of his 
countrymen, and laying aside his plumed hat, his 
epaulets, and his sword, he entered upon the func- 
tions of his new and great position with an honest 
l^urpose to do his duty. 

Unlike Caesar, who repelled the proffered crown 
while he coveted it, he came Avith diffidence to the 
high position to which he had been called, and unos- 
tentatiously employed himself with its appropriate 
duties; his whole course evincing his profound sense 
of the value of constitutional libert}'-, and his manners 
illustrating the beautiful simplicity of his character. 

Sir, this illustrious man is called away from us at 
a moment most critical. Never have I kno-sni the 
Republic in such peril as now surrounds it. My 
friend from Massachusetts [Mr. Winthrop] has well 
said tliat it is so clearly an interposition of Pro\-i- 
dence, that he is ready to exclaim, "' The chariots 
of Israi'l and tlic horsemen thereof." 

Sir, I agree to this. It is an interposition of 
Providence; and it comes to us in a trj^ing hour. 
But I nm not dismaj^ed. My trust in Providence is 
unshaken. Our country has been delivered, guided. 



made glorious, by a good Providence. It ^vill be so 
still. I remember, when the proj^het referred to by 
the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Wintiiroi-] 
"was surrounded hy a hostile force, and all hope of 
escape seemed cut off, that a young man avIio was 
with him cried out in great fear; and the reply of 
the propliet was, a prayer that the young man's 
eyes might be opened. He then saw that all within 
the hostile lines Avere "chariots and horsemen of 
fire," ready to succour and to deliver the Ije- 
leaguered city. So will it be with us. The dan- 
gers which threaten us will be averted, and, I trust, 
for ever disposed of. 

The solemn event which has just occurred will 
arrest the angrj^ current which has swept us on so 
fiercely. It imposes a truce, at least for a season, 
upon contending parties. In the mean while, a 
better feeling may spring up; and we may ask, 
" Why do we struggle with each other ? Are we 
not brethren ?" The nation will be impressed with 
the bereavement which it has suffered, and the tide 
of sorrow which sweeps throughout the country will 
admonish us to agree in wise, patriotic, and frater- 
nal counsels. The very event which we deplore, 
and Avhicli we regard as a calamity, will be over- 
ruled for good; and He that sitteth on high, 
mightier than the water-floods, will put fortli his 
power and cause a great calm. 



60 

Sir, death is at all times a solemn event; it 
touches both time and eternity; it terminates an 
earthly existence, it opens an immortal one. But 
this death will strike the world as an event marked 
by more than common solemnity. We mingle our 
tears over the bier of the Chief Magistrate of a great 
nation. We will honour his memory, and we will 
claim his fame for his whole country. Henceforth 
he belongs to his country, and his name is a part 
of our common inheritance. His last public act 
was in honour of the memory of Washington : he 
fixed his eyes upon that noble monument which is 
rising to the skies, built up by the present genera- 
tion for one whom all called blessed. By this time 
he has, it may be hoped, met the revered Father of 
his Country, in a world where their companionship 
will be eternal. His memory is safe — no human 
events can now affect it; the great qualities, the 
private virtues, the public services — all that is pre- 
cious in his memory, has received the seal of death. 

" The love where death has set his seal, 
Nor age can chill, nor rival steal, 
Nor falsehood disavow." 

Hon. John A. King addressed the House as follows : 

Mr. Speaker, — I desire to say a few words on the 

sudden and overwhelming event which has caused 

us to assemble here this day — in grief and in sorrow, 

in honour and respect. We are called upon to bow 



61 

with submission to the inscrutable will of Ilim in 
whose hands are the issues of life and death, to 
mourn the loss of one who, during a long career of 
distinguished and patriotic service, endeared himself 
to the hearts of the American people ; to look finnly, 
but without despair, at the sudden death of the Chief 
JNIagistrate of the millions of freemen over whose 
destinies he but 3'esterday presided in health and 
honour ; to acknowledge the eminent services which 
in war he has rendered to his country; to bear tes- 
timony to the moderation and the firmness of his 
conduct as the chosen head of the nation ; to declare 
the hope which sprung in every bosom while the 
short struggle for life endured, that that life, if not 
for his, for their sakes might be spared ; to manifest, 
so far as words can express them, the feelings of 
desolation which reign in every bosom on account 
of the sad bereavement. The character of him whom 
we mourn was made up of elements which ne^ er 
foil to win the attachment and confidence of the 
American people. Frank, direct, humane yet firm 
of purpose, he brought to the consideration of ques- 
tions of difficulty, a clear and unbiassed judgment — 
a decision which once fairly made never swerved. 
The consequences were, success and honour for him- 
self and his country. Few ever could boast a greater 
or a better influence over the hearts of the people ; 
and that generous attachment which cheered him 



m 

62 

while living will mourn him dead. "We lament him 
as our glory and our defence — as the head and hope 
of this great confederacy. 

But yet we are not left without hope, without 
alleviation. One yet remains to us who is to fill the 
honoured chair of State — one whose pubhc and pri- 
vate character needs no eulogy — one in whom the 
mild and best qualities of a statesman are fairly 
mingled. Let us give him our confidence ; let us 
cheer him in the performance of these, his unex- 
pected and most undesired duties. Let us cast on 
him the mantle of our hopes and confidence, for he 
deserves and will honourably wear it. 

Mr. Speaker, there are those of the household of 
the distinguished and lamented dead whose bereave- 
ment is deepest, and whose broken hearts no human 
consolation can reach. Let our anxious thoughts be 
directed, and our warmest sympathies be poured out 
in their behalf; for they have borne themselves 
gently,' in the position they have been called upon to 
fill. I cannot close, sir, these brief remarks, with- 
out expressing my abiding trust that this dispensation 
of an overruling Providence, whose will we may not 
question, may still be ordered for the honour, the 
safety, and the glory of the republic. 



-« 



03 

Mr. Marshall, of Kentucky, said : 

Mr. Speaker, — Silence is the true eloquence of 
Avo, and the niof^t appropriate sign of submission to 
Him, whose inscrutable decree afflicts this people. 

Were the emotions of my own bosom at this mo- 
ment the accepted counsellors of my action, content 
to mingle mine with the nation's tears, I should per- 
mit this solemn occasion to pass without the obtru- 
sion of a single remark. But, custom and the known 
relations I held to the late President of the United 
States, induce me to express here, my own personal 
grief at his untimely death, and the profound sensi- 
bility with which intelligence of the lamentable 
event will be received by the Commonwealth of 
Kentucky. In no quarter of our country will this 
blow fall with more crushing force, than upon the 
district I represent. There are the graves of his 
parents — the habitations of his kindred — the surviv- 
ing associates of his youth — the especial friends of 
his matured manhood — the companions of his mili- 
tary adventures — and the most numerous branches 
of his family connection. There his name was, in- 
deed, a tower of strength, as his fame was the pride 
of the people. 

I have not arisen to dwell upon his great exploits 
or to recount his many virtues. These can derive 
no additional lustre from the voice of exaggerated 
eulogy : they are already flimiliar to every votary- of 



G4 

courage, truth, and worth. Comparison between 
Zachary Taylor and celebrated ancients, illustrious 
in life or death, will neither diminish nor increase 
his claim to the admiration of mankind. His cha- 
racter was formed on no pre-existing model. Eeared 
amidst the solitudes of the western wilderness, his 
princij)les were fashioned by the precepts of the 
Kentucky pioneer; and his glorious career has 
amply vindicated ilieir Christianity, "^dsdom, and 
patriotism. The statue of his fame shall rise be- 
fore the student of American greatness, not merely 
sublime from the beauty of its just proportions, but 
conspicuous from its originality. The column is 
now complete. Omniscience has withdrawn the 
workman — Time and Earth have but "the sign 
and token" of the great original. The pencil of 
history will fill the bold outhne of our illustrious 
American, for the contemplation and admiration of 
posterity. 

Great, without pride ; cautious, without fear ; 
brave, without rashness ; stem, ■\^'ithout harshness ; 
modest, without bashfulness ; apt, without flippancy ; 
intelligent, M^ithout the pedantr}^ of learning; saga- 
cious, without cunning; benevolent, without osten- 
tation ; sincere and honest as the sun, the " noble 
old Roman" has at last lain down his earthly har- 
ness — his task is done. He has fallen, as falls the 
suunner-tree in the bloom of its honours, ere the 



Co 

blight of autumn has soared a leaf that adorns it. 
The image of his exalted character is indelibly im- 
pressed ujwn the hearts of his countrymen, and the 
lines thereof 

" By just degrees will every moment rise, 
Fill the wide earth and gain upon the skies." 

At the honoured urn which holds the remains of our 
beloved and departed chief, Kentucky asks a place 
among her sisters, to baptize it with the tears of 
sincere sorrew, and to attest her sense of our com- 
mon loss. 

Participating entirely in the feeling which follows 
into retirement the bereaved family of the illustrious 
deceased, I desire now to offer to them, in behalf of 
the representatives and people of the Commonwealth 
of Kentucky, (and, I am sure, I may well add, of all 
the States of the Union,) the expression of our sin- 
cerest sympathy under their deep allliction. May 
the Hand which "tempers the wind to the shorn 
lamb," bring to their relief the consolations of reli- 
gion, and the satisfaction to be imparted by an assu- 
rance that of General Taylor, as a friend, citizen, 
soldier, patriot — 

"None knew liim Imt ti> love him 
None named him Imt tu praise." 

The beauties of his domestic life remain to his family 
as sacred recollections. It is not for ?m, there to in- 
trude, or, by any attempt to pass them in review, to 



66 

disturb the melancholy but sweet satisfaction the 
memory of them must necessarily inspire. To us, 
as pubHc men, the bright example of the departed 
is set " as a lamp to our path." May it be present 
through all the watches of the night : may we, too, 
be able to repeat to a grateful country, as the last of 
earth shall come to each of us, the simple and touch- 
ing, but subhme declaration of the President's death- 
scene — " I am not afraid to die : I am ready : I have 
done my duty." 

A message was received from the Senate by Mr. Machen, 
their chief clerk : 

Mr. Speaker: — The Senate have passed the fol- 
lowing resolution in which I am directed to ask the 
concurrence of this House, viz. : 

Whereas, it has pleased Divine Pro\'idence to re- 
move from this life Zachary Taylor, late President 
of the United States, the Senate, sharing in the 
general sorrow which this melancholy event must 
produce, is desirous of manifesting its sensibility on 
the occasion ; Therefore, 

Resolved, That a committee consisting of Mr. Web- 
ster, Mr. Cass, and Mr. King, be aj^pointed on the 
part of the Senate, to meet such committee as may 
be appointed on the part of the House of Represen- 
tatives, to consider and report what measures it may 
be proper to adopt, to show the respect and affection 



/ 



67 

of Congress for the memory of the illustrious de- 
ceased, and to make the necessary arrangements for 
his funeral. 

The resolutions submitted by Mr. Conrad "were then 
unanimously agreed to. 

On motion of Mr. White of New York, the blank in the 
resolutions was filled by inserting the word "nine." 

WTien the following named members were appointed the 
said committee, on the part of the House, viz. : 

Mr. Conrad of Louisiana. 

Mr. McDowell of Virginia. 

Mr. WiNTHROP of Massachusetts. 

Mr. BissELL of Illinois. 

Mr. DuER of New York. 

Mr. Orr of South Carolina. 

Mr. Beck of Kentucky. 

Mr. Strong of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Vinton of Ohio. 

Mr. Cabell of Florida. 

Mr. Kerr of Maryland. 

Mr. Stanly of North Carohna. 

Mr. Littlefield of Maine. 

Ordered^ That the clerk acquaint the Senate therewith. 

And then, on motion of Mr. Jacob Thompson, the House 
adjourned until to-morrow at eleven o'clock, A. M. 



68 



IN SENATE. 
Thursday, July 11, 1850. 



Mr. "Webster, from the committee appointed on the part 
of the Senate, jointly with the committee appointed on the 
part of the House of Representatives, to consider and report 
•what measures it may be proper to adopt in order to show 
the respect and aifection of Congress for the memory of 
Zachary Taylor, late President of the United States, re- 
ported in part the following : 

That the funeral take place from the President's house 
on Saturday next. The ceremonies to commence at twelve 
o'clock, M., and the procession to move at one o'clock pre- 
cisely. 

That the two Houses of Congress assemble in their re- 
spective chambers on Saturday next at eleven o'clock, and 
thence move in joint procession to the President's house. 

That the chambers of the two Houses be hung in black, 
and that the members wear the usual badges of mourning. 

The Senate proceeded by unanimous consent to consider 
the report, and the same was concurred in. 

Mr. Underwood then rose and said : 
Mr. President, — The report just made having 
brought up again to the attention of the Senate the 



G9 

death of the late President of the United States, 
and having been absent yesterday when the gentle- 
man from Louisiana [Mr. Downs] made his elo- 
quent and appropriate address, and offered his reso- 
lutions — my absence resulting from the fact that I 
was appointed one of the committee on the part of 
the Senate to wait upon Mr. Fillmore, and make 
arrangements preparatory to his taking the oath of 
office — I throw myself upon the indulgence of the 
Senate, and beg permission to make a few remarks. 

I was among the earliest to advocate the election 
of General Taylor, and, in common ^yith. a very 
large majority of the people of my State, gave him a 
most cordial sup^wrt. He had been raised among 
us. Ilis character was formed and developed by as- 
sociations with the pioneers of a western wilderness ; 
with those who encountered the difficulties and pri- 
vations of settling and improving the most fertile 
region of the globe ; and who, ahnost unaided by 
government, relying exclusively upon their own 
individual resources and energies, successfully re- 
sisted the i^ersevering efforts of numerous hordes of 
warlike savages to expel them from the country. 
His father, Richard Taylor, a soldier of the Revolu- 
tion, was eminently qualified to infuse into the mind 
of his son those sentiments of ardent patriotism and 
lofty heroism which pervaded all classes with whom 
Zachary Taylor associated when a boy. "Well do 



70 

I remember that father; for I was associated with 
liim in the legislature of Kentucky, at a time when 
questions of constitutional law deeply agitated the 
entire State, and when rancorous and bitter politi- 
cians threatened the public peace, and dared to talk 
of bloodshed. I remember the conciliating, calm, 
and yet firm demeanour of that father amidst the 
storms of debate and the fierce collisions of conflict- 
ing opinions. In these respects he was the admira- 
ble prototype of the hero of Buena Vista. 

With such a father, and under the influences of 
the society and circumstances by which General 
Taylor was surrounded in his boyhood, it would 
have been indeed strange had he gro^vn up without 
a strong predilection for military life. Fortunately 
for his own fame, fortunately for the glory of his 
country, in youth he put on the armour of a soldier. 
What followed is well-known history, and needs no 
repetition here. 

A grateful country, penetrated by a deep con\ac- 
tion of the intuitive sagacity and elevated patriotism 
of General Taylor, united with military achieve- 
ments of unsurpassed splendour, and a ^^ersonal 
character for truth and honesty without a superior, 
made him Chief Magistrate. The providence of God 
has termmated his earthly career, during this the 
first session of Congress since his inauguration. His 
fither was permitted to live and take an ofiicient 



71 

part in accomplishing those measures which relieved 
Kentucky from the threatened horrors of ci^^l war. 
The son has been taken hence to the world of 
spirits, before those agitating questions which now 
excite Congress and the people, and threaten the 
destruction of the government, have been settled. 
Mysterious providence ! There were thousands and 
hundreds of thousands of our countrymen who 
looked for help in this time of need to the unbend- 
ing integrity and firmness of purpose which ever 
characterized our late President. God has taken 
from them this staff of their reliance. It ^vill be 
manifested in time whether the measure of General 
Taylor's honours and usefulness being full and 
overflowing, he was removed by the Ruler of the 
Universe to give place to those equally or better 
able to calm political dissensions, and to extricate 
the country from impending dangers, or whether 
the awful judgments of God are to rest upon us for 
national sins, and for the want of that ^^'isdom and 
spirit of conciliation which have heretofore enabled 
such men as Zaciiary Taylor to secure national 
prosperity and happiness. Whatever purposes of 
the Deity the future may unfold, the present is a 
day of mourning ; and certain I am that no portion 
of our extensive country will feel more sensibly the 
general bereavement than the State in which our 
dead and yet unburied Chief Magistrate spent the 



morning of his life. Kentucky will long remember 
and mourn for him as one of her o^\ti sons, and as 
the commander who led her McKee, her Clay, her 
Hardin, her Barbour, her AVillis, and a host of her 
less distinguished children, to the glorious sacrifice 
of life, to secure the triumph of their country. 

And while we sympathize and condole with the 
family of the great and good man gone from earth 
for ever, let us indulg^e the hope that his bright ex- 
ample will be of immense value to succeeding gene- 
rations, and that his spirit with kindred spirits now 
constitute a blessed society in heaven. 

On motion by Mr. Atchison, 

Ordered, That when the Senate adjourn, it adjourn to 
Monday next. 

On motion the Senate then adjourned. 



73 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 
Thursday, July 11, 1850. 

Mr. Conrad, from the Joint Committee appointed to 
take into consideration " What measures it may be proper 
to adopt, to show the respect and affection of Congress for 
the memory of Zachary Taylor, late President of the 
United States, and to make the necessary arrangements for 
his funeral," made the following Report : — 

[See the report in the Senate proceedings.] 

The said report having been read, it was unanimously 
concurred in. 

On motion of Mr. Strong, it was 

Ordered, That when the House adjom-n, it adjourn to 
meet again on Saturday next, at ten o'clock, A. M. 

And then. 

On motion of Mr. Duer, the House adjourned until 
Saturday next, at eleven o'clock, A. M. 



Saturday, July 13, 1850. 

The House met at eleven o'clock, A. M., pursuant to ad- 
journment. 

The Speaker, members, and oflBcers, in pursuance of the 
order of Thursday last, then proceeded in procession to the 
President's House, for the purpose of uniting in the funeral 
ceremonies of Zacuary Taylor, late President of the 
United States. 



74 




IN SENATE. 




Saturday, July 13, 


1850. 



The Senate having, in conformity with their previous 
order, attended the funeral of the late President of the 
United States, returned to their chamber ; and 

On motion by Mr. Greene, 

Adjourned. 



*<■ 



J 



75 



THE FUNERAL. 



The following account of the funeral solemnities ap- 
peared in the National Intelligencer. 

" Can this be death ? — then what is life or death ? 

' Speak I' — but he spoke not : ' Wake I' — but still he slept. 
But yesterday, and who had mightier breath? 

A thousand warriors by his word were kept 
In awe ; he said, as the Centurion saith, 

'Go,' and he goeth ; 'come,' and forth he stepp'd. 
The trump and bugle till he spake were dumb ; 

And now nought left him but the muftled drum I" 

"When it became our melancholy duty, nine years ago, to 
record some account of the obsequies of the lamented 
Harrison, we little thought that, during our brief remain- 
ing term of life, it would ever, certainly not so soon, be our 
lot to repeat the tale of another Presidential Funeral. But 
that mysterious roll of human fate, written in Heaven, but 
slowly unfolded, line after line, by the unerring hand of 
Time, has many things in reserve for us all, of which we 
little dream ; and nations, like individuals, are sometimes 
shocked by the advent of calamities as sudden and unlookc<l- 
for as they are great. Such an event has befallen this 
youthful Republic ; and no stranger who beheld this city 
during the last few days could doubt that some great and 
appalling stroke had fallen upon the community. The 
silent streets — the public offices, and even the private dwell- 



76 

ings, shrouded in mourning — the national colours, wherever 

visible, displayed at half-mast, all told the story to the eye ; 

■while the looks of the people, the pause in public business, 

the rapid arrival of strangers^ tie groups collected in 

earnest conversation, or intent on public prints bearing 

their well-known badges of mourning, still more unfailingly 

impressed the fact upon the heart. 

During the after part of Friday, the stream of people 

might be observed directing itself toward the Presidential 

Mansion, while those who left it carried in their counte- 

« 
nances an unusual gloom, and in their hands a leaf, a 

flower, a withered branch, to be treasured up as a memorial 
consecrated by its having once rested on the bier of 
Zachary Taylor. The body of the deceased President 
was on that day placed in the great East Room of the Ex- 
ecutive Mansion, on an elevated platform, in its centre, 
under a canopy of black, being deposited in a coffin covered 
on the outside with black velvet and draperies of silver, 
and lined within with velvet also, but of the purest white. 
The shroud was of satin, and a white cravat was grace- 
fully thrown around the neck. The countenance there 
exposed was one not to be passed over with a slight or 
transient gaze. It fixed every eye. It had three things 
impressively written upon it : uprightness, benevolence, and 
peace. The face looked just as in life : frank, manly, 
simple, kind, with almost a smile about the mouth. On the 
coffin lay a profuse quantity of flowers and buds, which 
were continually being removed by the crowds who gathered 
from all quarters to contemplate the spectacle, and were as 
often renewed. 

The Funeral was appointed for Saturday. The weather 



77 

was cool, and the morning opened with a clear skj and a 
welcome breeze, both continuing throughout the day. 
Funeral salutes were fired at sunrise; all stores were 
closed ; and very soon the sound of the drum was heard — the 
military were in motion, and the streets began to be 
thronged with horsemen and vehicles of all descriptions. 
The lines of railroad brought such trains of cars as are seldom 
witnessed for number, and all densely crowded. The city 
resembled some hive, alarmed and astir for a general move ; 
and yet, with all the bustle and movement, there was mingled 
a prevailing quietness, a chastened abstaining from all 
tumultuous noises, which reminded one of the Sabbath. 

The troops hastened to their appointed rendezvous, the 
various civic associations to their respective halls of meet- 
ing; while the whole population, with a countless addition 
of strangers from all the adjacent States of the Union, 
grouped themselves at the intersections of streets with the 
main avenue, or at the open windows of houses where tlic 
procession was to pass. From these latter the sashes were 
in many cases removed, and, story above story, clusterin-^' 
heads, with eager look, were peering out upon the scene. 
In some places the very roofs were almost literally tik'd 
with human heads. It is estimated that no less than a 
hundred thousand human beings were concentrated in this 
city on that memorable day. The avenue itself (we mean 
of course Pennsylvania avenue) was, by the activity of 
Marshals, posted from point to point along its whole length, 
kept entirely clear of all vehicles and horsemen but such as 
formed a part of the funeral cavalcade. 



78 



THE FUNERAL SERVICE. 



Never has it been our lot to be present at any scene of 
such solemnity and dignity as that ^\hich the East Room 
of the Presidential Mansion offered on this occasion. Here 
lay in state the venerated dead ; and here the last cere- 
monies of the Church were appointed to be performed. 
Beneath the capacious sable canopy the mortal remains of 
General Taylor lay coffined, and around those remains 
were clustered a host of the distinguished living. At the 
foot of the bier sat in sadness the Successor to the honours 
and the responsibilities of the Executive chair, with the 
constitutional advisers of the President; at its head were 
the Ministers of Religion, in the habiliments of their high 
office ; to the right, occupying the southern portion of the 
room, were the distinguished Chiefs of the Army and the 
Navy. The General-in-Chief of the Army, Wixfield 
Scott, with his Staff; Naval Commanders; Officers of the 
Marine Corps ; the Major-General of the Militia, with his 
Aids, and Officers of the Engineer Corps, presented a spec- 
tacle of imposing grandeur, greatly heightened by the bril- 
liant array of Foreign Ministers in their official costumes. 
On the left, in close proximity to the lamented dead, were 
seated world-renowned Statesmen. But they thought not 
of eminence to be attained in this sphere. An inscrutable 
Providence had given their minds a direction to the grave. 
There sat in sorrow, among the designated pall-bearers. 
Statesmen long distinguished by public service in both 



79 

Houses of Congress, whose names have become familiar as 
household words to the People. There, too, sat, on the 
opposite side, the immediate relatives of the deceased: 
Colonel Taylor, his brother. Dr. "Wood, Colonel Bliss, the 
Hon. Jefferson Davis, and others who are nearly allied, 
all furnishing painful evidence of 

Wo too great to be express' J, 



AVhicli broods in silence and corrodes the heart. 

The western part of the room was occupied by the Presi- 
dent of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Re- 
presentatives, and the Members and officers of both these 
bodies. Heads of Bui'eaus, and a large body of Clergymen 
of all denominations. 

All being seated, under the well-conceived instructions of 
the Marshal of the District, by Aids -who performed their 
office with prompt attention and noiseless tread, an amateur 
choir from several churches, under the direction of Pro- 
fessor Bbrlyn, sang in solemn cadence, the anthem : 

" I heard a voice from Heaven saying, Write, write from henceforth 
blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, for they rest from their labours. 
Amen." 

The Ritual of the Church, "Lord let me know my end," 
was impressively read by the Rev. Mr. Pyxe, the re- 
sponses being given by the Rev. C. B. Butler, in which 
other clergy and laymen joined. The latter gentleman then 
read a portion of the fifteenth chapter of St. Paul's First 
Epistle to the Corinthians: "But now is Christ risen," &c. 

The Rev. Mr. Pyne then delivered the following dis- 
course. 



80 



DISCOURSE. 

Ix other lands, •where there prevails a class of 
political and social relations essentially different 
from our ovnci, there is a word often used, which, im- 
portant and expressive as may be its import to the 
people of those lands, seems with us, under ordinary 
circumstances, scarcely to find a place or an appli- 
cation; I mean the word august. It may appear 
strange, speaking as an American to Americans, to 
employ such an expression as an august person, or 
an august presence ; and yet, whatever there be in 
that w^ord that conveys the associations and attri- 
butes of majesty, of all that can impress a human 
creature vrith. reverence and awe, I find it in this 
audience and this presence ; for I speak in an assem- 
blage which is but the type and symbol of a 
mourning nation — appropriate symbol of its dignity 
and power. The Chief Magistrate of this republic, 
the members of its great legislative councils, the 
honourable heads of its Executive Departments, the 
honoured chiefs of the two great arms of the public 
service — this is a presence which, to me, as a citizen 
of this republic, is indeed august. 



— • 



81 

And nut less imposing to nic is the representation 
of the dignit}'- of other lands in peace and harmony 
with our own; for that presence tells me not only 
that they are here among us as great agents for the 
interests of great nations, and therefore for the 
interests of the civilized world, but I believe they are 
here this day in this place of the mourning obsequies 
of the honoured dead, giving a tribute of not mere 
official reverence, but personal regret; yes! as 
ministers of this world's rulers, to whom the peace 
of the world is all-important, well may they regret 
hhu who, as long as he filled his great place, was a 
guarantee for one element in that world-wide secu- 
rity — the stern, impartial neutralliij of these United 
States. I am sure I do them no more than justice 
in believing that a tenderer feeling is blended with 
this : the warm grasp of the hand, the cordial ad- 
dress, the true, honest words of welcome, and the 
homely but affectionate farewell, are present, I 
doubt not, at this moment to the memory of many 
a heart that beats beneath those insignia of official 
station. I remember Avell the impression made on 
me by his parting speech to the minister of a great 
empire: " God bless you, come back to us again" — 
a strange fiirewell, according to the vocabulary of 
diplomatic etiquette — a noble and characteristic one 
from General Taylou to the man he was really sorry 
to part with, and whom he honestly wished to see 



82 

again. I feel, then, tliat I speak in the presence of 
not mere official representatives of courts and coun- 
tries, Ijut of men whose sympathies accompany that 
presence, making it all the more impressive to me as 
it is honourable to them. 

There is another presence here, to me the most 
august of all — the presence of that relic of the 
mighty dead! When living, he never heard from 
my lips one word of adulation, and now, if in that 
light and life of truth to which that true soul has 
been taken, he is conscious of aught that passes 
here, he sees that I am doing for him when dead, 
that which would most have pleased him in life. I 
will speak the truth, utter no single w^ord which my 
conscience does not avouch, which is not an index 
of the feelings of my heart. 

And oh ! may I, the minister of God, not lose for 
one moment the conscious sense of that Presence — 
the " discerner of the thoughts and intents of the 
heart !" May these few poor words of mine perform 
the best office for the dead, by doing good to the 
living, who in their turn must die ! 

In their appropriate time and place words have 
been spoken, the record of this great man's life, the 
tribute to his multiplied claims upon the country — 
words worthy of tliose who uttered them, worthy of 
him whom they commemorated. Had this, then, 
been the fit occasion, or mine the projxjr voice, to 



83 

expatiate on such themes, I could onlj- liave reite- 
rated what has been far better and more effectively 
said. Of his glorious history, then, as the leader of 
armies — of his measures as the Chief Magistrate of a 
great nation, I shall say nothing. I shall advert to 
one point alone, a subject of contemplation as useful 
as it is beautiful. 

I have been struck with the coincidence, not 
merely in feeling, but in the very expression of that 
feeling, which has marked the reception throughout 
the country of the late heavy tidings. Simultane- 
ously, from our halls of Congress, in every form 
of official announcement, in every private letter I 
have received or seen, there was one phrase, as 
though it were the only possible, the instinctive ex- 
pression of one universal feeling : '• The great man /" 
It is evidently no mere form of speech, nor is it 
employed in that conventional acceptation by which 
any man who had died in that great office might be 
called great. No, it is plain that in that individual 
man there were elements of character which have 
impressed upon the common sense and judgment of 
this country the indelible conviction that he was a 
great man. It is worth while for us to pause a 
moment to consider what those qualities were which 
elicited an acknowledgment so unusually, so univer- 
sally accordant. It was not his military prowess or 
success. " Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona." The 



84 

civic and the mural crowns adorn too many brows 
to have made this man, as by emphasis, great. That 
wonderful campaign was indeed the lever which 
raised him up to show the world, not what it had 
made him, but what he was in himself, the man — the 
man to do the right thing at the right time; the 
man who would not leave his wounded behind him, 
and would have encountered any personal hazard or 
sacrifice to abide by that which his heart told him 
was right; the man quiet in expression, strong in 
action, firm in purpose, and whether in expression, 
action, or purpose, that transparent honesty and 
simple integrity forming, as it were, the atmosphere 
in which he lived and moved — which, so happily for 
himself and for us, not only enabled him to see 
clearly and do resolutely what became a true and 
brave man, but enabled the world to see how 
bravely and how honestly it was done. A rare 
gift ! Let us honour it ; and, above all, let us try 
to learn a lesson from it. 

The secret of this illustrious man's strength and 
greatness lay in his being honest, true, right-minded. 
He might have possessed the same clearness of judg- 
ment in discerning any practicable or desirable end, 
the same determination of purpose in adhering to 
his maturely adopted plan for working it out. Would 
these things alone have made him what this nation 
has so universally called him? A man may see 



85 

viTv cli'iirly a Imd cud, \vork Avitli astonisliiiifr vigour 
and i)erseverancc to accom2)lish it. Can such a man 
l)c really iircat — can he be really strong? It is true 
that, without those more active qualities, mere recti- 
tude of intention and goodness of heart might consti- 
tute a good, but not a great man. And yet even in 
those elements of goodness lie the essential elements 
of greatness. The working powers of energy and 
will, of what avail are they if they have not the 
true material to work withal? — reUaliliff/ ! If a 
man have not that, who will trust him ? Though he 
had the energy and intelligence of the arch-fiend 
himself, who will let him work with them or f(jr 
them? And where is that reliabilit}' to be sought? 
In the fickle changes of a man's self-interest, in the 
declared submission to popular will, so that a man is 
perpetually looking without and never within for his 
rule of right ? No ! To give real hody and strength 
to human character, there must be the strong mind, 
indeed, but it must be the strong mind acting respon- 
sively to the teachings of the rigJit mind. "If the 
e3'e be single, then shall the whole body be full of 
light." Goal ness and jwiiy r — that is gnaf/irss. The 
people of this land saw it there, and therefore have 
they called him great. It is an honour to them to 
have seen him as they did. and to have placed him 
where they did. 

There is, then, a great le.sson to l)e learned here 



86 

this day. I will not suffer myself to suppose that 
there is a public man Avho hears me, who does not 
covet that Avhich is high m honour, bright in fiime, 
and which Avill last in the memory of man. "We 
have had a great li"sdng example what there must be 
in a man to win from the world these noble appli- 
ances of honour and fame. Being dead, he yet 
speaketh a lesson which ^s^dll l)e read and treasured 
by the generation who shall follow us. 

Permit me, now, to pass to the yet higher teach- 
ing of this great event. 

There is a series of commonplaces respecting 
death, judgment, eternity, w^hich, awful and true as 
they are admitted to be, still, whether it Ije from the 
fomiliarity of our minds with them, in consequence 
of frequent repetition, or that the overwhelming 
interests of the solid, tangible jDresent, veil the 
equally certain, but, as we think, far-removed reali- 
ties of the future ; from some cause or other, I re- 
peat, these admitted, awful truths fail to exercise 
any influence on human conduct or character at all 
commensurate with their importance. The great 
reason of this is probably the practical ignorance or 
the forgetfulness of the gTcat fact that, in the iwe- 
lation of Christianity, judgment is not a thing which 
is to come, but is now; that we are actually in the 
kingdom of the Great Judge, the God-man, who is 
near to us, and we to him, — neai", with his supplies 



of gn\cc to help in time of lu^ed — near, knowing 
from His human experience what man can do as 
Avell as what he ought to do, knowing from His 
divine omnifscience every thought and intent of the 
heart. It is not, then, a remote judge and a remote 
judgment with which we have to do, Ijut one at the 
door. The judgment of the great day is, in fact, 
only the sentence educed by the sum of those judg- 
ments which have gone up day by day from the 
thoughts, and words, and works. Alas! e\'en in 
Christian people who arc not insensible to this gi'eat 
fact of their religion, who feel its restraining and 
fruidinji; intluence in manv of the circumstances of 
life, there is great hazard of their losing the practical 
conviction that there is only one Judge in the world 
with whom they have any tiling really to do — that 
they should suffer questions of exix^diency or policy, 
or the opinions of men, to take the place of this sim- 
ple accountability of the Christian conscience to the 
Christian Judge ; so that any course of action for 
which we can adduce such plausible reasons as will 
satisfy the world, we take for granted as fit to stand 
before the bar of conscience. "If our heart con- 
denni us not, then have we confidence toward God," 
saith an apostle. But when, by any process of rea- 
soning, we have so justified our conduct, that, before 
the tribunal of man's judgment, we pass free, we 
mav infer, as a necessary consequence, that our heart 



88 

should not condemn us ; from this the step is easy 
to the conclusion that it does not. Seeing, then, how 
easily and insensibly we may f\ill into practical for- 
getfulness of the great judgment which standeth 
ever at the door, whose final award we shall all assu- 
redly meet, it is the business of reasonable men, it is 
the solemn duty of responsible Christian men, when- 
ever, in God's pro\ddence, any event occurs which 
teaches a great lesson on this very point, to study it 
devoutly, reverently. It is the great purpose of God, 
in troubling the still waters of common Ufe, that we 
should note the descent of the angel antl gather 
health from the perturbed element. Such a visita- 
tion has now been made. It weakens the effect of 
such an event to multiply words respecting it. It is 
a world-si>eaking sermon — to the world more imme- 
diately around us, among whom this illustrious per- 
son so lately and so conspicuously moved — speaking 
with esjDecial emphasis. May God teach our hearts 
all its lessons. I shall not pretend to present them 
all, but will endeavour, hy His grace, to awake your 
attention and my own to that lesson at least which 
comes home to the great business and wants of our 
daily life, and may make us wise unto salvation. 

I would remark, then, that in the sudden removal 
of this distinguished jx^i-son, from the cai'es, activi- 
ties, and ivsponsibilities of life, taking him (to use a 
common phrase) to his account^ God was only doing 



89 

in 11 ^vay which men in a sense see, and therefore 
more fully realize, ■what He was just as really doing 
at every moment of his previous existence. Before 
he came to that great ofiice, at every instant of tliat 
momentous period of his life, up to the very time 
when the Great Judge gave visible note of what He 
had never ceased to do — it is not one whit more true 
that he has now gone to his account, that his Great 
Judge will one day pronounce his final award, than 
that every day he lived he was going to it — the 
Judge just as near to him, the account going on, the 
award made. 

This is true of every human creature; but its 
great and startling truth is unquestionably brought 
more home to us when we have before us some noted 
instance like the present. 

Let us suppose that on that memorable fifth of 
March, sixteen months ago, a message from God had 
revealed to the departed President, that which we 
now know! — that he had said to him, '• I have 
brought you to this great office ; in the full career 
of its duties you shall die." It is not fur any human 
creature to say whether it would have changed or 
modified any of the acts of his Presidential career; 
perhaps I cannot express in stronger teims my indi- 
vidual estimation of the man than to declare my 
strong personal impression that it would nt)t. I do 
in my heart believe that ever}' act of his ofiicial lil'e 



90 

was done under the sense of personal and official 
responsibility. But, unquestionably, such a revela- 
tion would have given awful solemnity to every deci- 
sion — it would have suffered no veil to interpose to 
conceal motive, no conflict or combination of interests 
to modify the one great motive and purpose, to 
repress the abiding conviction, "I am making up 
my own judgment — the judgment of man is nothing 
to me, except as it responds to the judgment of my 
conscience and my God. I must do my work — the 
messenger stands at the door and knocks — the grave 
is waiting — it is my work — the instruments I use to 
do it must be not those' which others like the best, 
but such as I believe will do the work the best." 

Now, I am not preaching to official people simply 
— be the office high or low ; I am preaching, and 
this great event is preaching to all. We are all in 
office ! — an office before which the government of 
the world itself sinks into insignificance ; the dig- 
nity of which was fully realized b^- llim who, when 
the world and its glories were proffered to Him, saw 
their comparative nothingness — the great reahn of 
conscience, the hingdoni of God within 2(S. To the 
administration of this government all the powers of 
nature and of grace are made subordinate; we may 
use them or abuse them ; for that use or abuse v»e 
know that wo sliall be held accountable. But we 
know it and admit it in a ircneral wav ; and we 



91 

know tliat were such a revelation made to us as 
tliat I liave intimated, the wliole character and 
tenor of life would be affected l)v it. If you and I 
knew 1)eyond the possibility of doubt that on the 
ninth of next July we should die, I say to you un- 
hesitatingly that we would not live the coming year 
as we ha\-e lived the last. The world would as- 
sume a different character and relation to us; the 
opinions and associations of men would possess a 
widely different influence. Things which we think 
of very little importance because the rest of the 
world think them so, would be weighed in a very 
different balance — things that occupy a large por- 
tion of our attention and affection, because other 
men value or love them, would sink immeasurably 
in the scale. Oh ! it is in the light of such a reve- 
lation that we should learn the full force of that 
apostolic injunction : " Love not the world, nor the 
things that are in the world," for we should find, 
amid all our imagined love of God, and of His truth, 
what deep-seated care and love and worship of the 
world there is in the best of us; ay, and even in the 
best moods and movements of the best of us. AW-ll. 
such a revelation has been made — not of the hour 
of death, but the hour of judgment^ — not of years in 
perspective, but in the awful pn^^mf. The ctn'n<il 
now is judging us noic. The hour of death, indeed, 
is not revealed ; but come when it will, it comes not 



92 

as tlie Iiour of jiidgmGnt, but the hour which tells us 
that all judgment is at an end — the balance struck, 
the account made up, the recording angel's function 
ended. No more make- weights of faith, and' prajer, 
and repentance, and sanctity! The blood of the 
covenant has sealed the soul for its final passage in 
the great audit ! — that blood which tells, tJiat it has 
jpaid the debt, or doubled it. And as for that hour 
of death, we are not, indeed, told that it shall come 
in one, or ten, or fifty years, but we are told that it 
shall come. Told ! There is not a day we live that 
we are not told it by that w^hicli moves men's minds 
more than God's own revelation. We see infancy 
and age, wisdom and folly, poverty and riches, lie 
down in that common bed. " But when ? If we 
knew when ! It would ^make us thoughtful, serious; 
the great business of life would be to make ready.' " 
Do you think so ? I believe that it would make 
you mad — I believe that reason would reel before 
the dreadful assurance, or that men's hearts would 
run into desperate recklessness. God, in his mercy, 
has concealed the u-hcn. He has not said, " This 
night thy soul shall be required of thee." But he 
has said, this hour it may, some hour it icill. In the 
construction of human language, the potential and 
the imperative are separate things. In the divine 
vocabulary this distinction exists not. "Whatever 
he has said inai/ be, is not only witliin his potential- 



93 

ity, l)ut at every moment is ut his fiat, -when -what 
may he is. It is the business of the children of God 
to view all those things which God, in reference to 
our condition, has pronounced contingencies, as 
realities. This contingency, above all. And yet, 
upon this simple difference of the maij and the slmU 
— creatures of intelligence and observation, as w(.» 
boast ourselves — how absolutely does the whole 
tenor of our lives and actions often turn ; we act as 
though the only revelation made to us were that of 
the Psalmist: "A thousand shall fall beside thee, 
and iQYi thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not 
come nigh thee." 

Oh ! may God's message now awake us from this 
delusion ; making us feel that, as in the startling 
case before us, revelation itself could not make the 
e\ent more certain, so there is a revelation always 
speaking to us its message, but now echoed by 
heaven's own angel, sounded abroad on the wide 
surface of our land : ^' Behold, I stand at the door 
and knock." " Thy soul shall be required of thee." 
I have now performed the function allotted me with 
such ability as God has given me. I trust that the 
humble but very sincere tribute to one who held so 
high a place among us is not unsuited to the time or 
place. It is indeed a high ollice ; and for our own 
sake we should honour all who hold it — honour 
them living, honour them dead. AVe should show 



94 

that those -whom a great people place in such a sta- 
tion of eminence are, by that single act, taken out 
of the category of common men. While the}- live 
^ye should respect them, and when they go the way 
of all flesh, I would still have them honoured in such 
a way as will do good to the living. There is a 
monument even now in progress to the memory of 
the first President of this country ; but how utterly 
inadequate must that or any other monument be, as 
an expression of the veneration of this country or of 
the world itself. I can imagine a monument more 
worthy of the country and of him ; one that would 
preach a great lesson to generations yet to come. 
Let the spot where the great Father of his Country 
reposes become national soil. Let there arise on the 
bank of his own river, beneath the shade of his own 
trees, a great mausoleum — there, around his mortal 
remains, let the bodies of all be gathered who have 
ever been chosen or shall ever be chosen by the 
American peo})lc to bear that office which Wash- 
ington dignified and adorned. I believe that such 
a monument might do much to secure the best suc- 
cession in the world, the succession of virtues and 
patriotism like his own. I am very sure that it 
would be visited like a shrine; that many a heart 
would beat with nobler pulses when looking on 
that assemblage of the mighty dead. And, if the 
day must come when the fate of the great nations 



•m 



95 

tliat have gone shall be ours; Avheii strangers of 
some newer race and name shall come hither to 
visit the relics of a people once mightj' and free — 
the very memory of other places, other names may 
have vanished, but that will remain; and the world 
will never cease to bear record that that must in- 
deed have been a great nation which had such hon- 
ourable sons, and so honoured them. 

The benediction closed the Funeral Services at this 
place, and the body was removed to the carriage prepared 
for it in the order of procession, the infant Eberbachs ming- 
ling their sweet voices with the measured tread of the ma- 
rines, who bore the body to the car, as they sang — 

Ilis triumphs are o'er — he's gone to his rest — 
To the throne of his Maker, the home ofthe blest. 
IIow peaceful and calm he now rests on the bier I 
Each lieart droops in sadness, each eye sheds a tear. 
The hero, the statesman, his journey is done, 
All his cares now are over, his last battle won ; 
Now sweetly he rests from his sorrows and fears, 
And leaves a proud nation in sadness and tears. 



96 



THE MILITARY HONOURS AND PROCESSION. 

It -was past one o'clock before the ceremonies at the 
Presidential Mansion closed ; and, soon after, the proces- 
sion began to move. We enjoyed a favourable post for ob- 
servation, having a fiiir view of both the civic and the 
military portions of it; and the impression was that of a 
solemnity every way worthy of the occasion. How the 
troops may have borne the criticism of an experienced mili- 
tary eye, we pretend not to know: to us, certainly, they 
appeared well-trained and soldierly in their movement, and 
neat, tasteful, and striking in their many different and con- 
trasting uniforms. They Avere drawn up in line on the 
avenue, fronting the Presidential Mansion, with their offi- 
cers posted in military order ; and, when the Funeral Car 
made its appearance, it was received with the highest mili- 
tary honours amid solemn sounds of martial music. The 
mingling dirges filled the air, and seemed impressively to 
chant to each other the poet's immortal strain, 

" The paths of glory lead but to the grave." 

The Catafalque, or moving bier, which bore the mortal 
remains of the late President, was drawn by eight white 
horses, splendidly caparisoned, each led by an attendant 
groom in white turban and corresponding dress. The car, 
large and elevated, covered with black, and hung round 
with festoons of white silk, was surmounted by a canopy, 
above which was seen the American Eagle, deeply shrouded, 
in fact almost hidden, in black crape. The coffin occupied 



07 

a conspicuous position, and was fully exposed to view. But 
all eyes were drawn, even from this solemn sight, to one still 
more calculated to touch the feelings of a promiscuous 
assemblage; it was the General's favourite horse, the far- 
famed " Old WJiitei/," so well known to every soldier who 
served under the brave old man through the perilous and 
glorious Mexican campaigns. He is a well-made animal, 
of some fifteen and a half hands in height, in fine condition, 
and, as it seemed, with a military air. On the saddle were 
the holsters and inverted spurs. Poor folloAv ! he stepped 
proudly ; but how would his pride have been quelled, could 
he have known that he now accompanied his beloved master 
for the last time! Yes, Wliitmj I you are surrounded by 
soldiers, as you were wont to be ; the cannon thunder in 
your car, that is a familiar sound ; and near you is he whose 
heart never quailed and whose sword was never turned back 
from the fight ; but, alas ! he has met, at last, a foe he 
could not conquer, and the hand that so often patted your 
neck and reached you a morning token of his loving care, 
is cold in death, and will caress you no more ! 

The Military portion of the Funeral Procession is worthy 
of a special notice. It was anticipated that many A^olun- 
teer Companies, and indeed military men generally, would 
be anxious to attend the obsequies of the illustrious Chief- 
tain and President of the Republic ; and this anticipation 
was fully rcalizcil. Baltimore contributed largely and 
patriotically to the military display, than which we never 
witnessed a more imposing one in this city. 

From a favourable and commanding position at the corner 
of one of the cross streets, we noticed the troops marching 
in slow time, in the following order : 



■^ 



98 

Patapsco Riflemen, of Baltimore, Capt. Swain, preceded 
by their Band. 

Independent Greys' Band, of Baltimore. 

Light Infantry, from \Yilmington, Delaware. 

German Yagers, of Baltimore, Capt. Pracht. 

Maryland Cadets, of Baltimore, Capt. Poor. 

National Blues, of Baltimore, Capt. Chesnut. 

Taylor Light Infantry, from Catonsville, Maryland, under 
the command of Lieut. Brown, of the Independent Greys, 
Baltimore. This interesting corps consisted of two com- 
panies of youths, who are being educated at St. Timothy 
Hall. Their uniform was handsome, and they were well 
drilled. 

German Washington Guards, of Baltimore, Capt. 

Hoffman. 

National Greys, of Washington, Capt. Bacon. 

Independent Greys, of Baltimore, Capt. Hall. 

A platoon of commissioned officers representing volun- 
teer companies of the fifty-third regiment of Baltimore. 

A portion of the patriotic volunteer Defenders of Balti- 
more in the year 1814, witli their banner. Amongst them 
we recognised General Anthony Miltcnberger, Joseph K. 
Stapleton and Wm. P. Mills, Esqs. 

First Baltimore Sharpshooters, of Baltimore, Capt. Lilly. 

Jackson Guards, of Baltimore. 

Independent Blues, of Baltimore, Capt. Shutt. 

Independent Greys, of Georgetown, Capt. Goddard. 

National Guards, of Philadelphia, Capt. Lyle. 

Mount A^ernon Guards, of Alexandria, Capt. Fields. 

Richmoiul (Ya.) Blues, Lieut. Regnault, accompanied by 
their Band. 



99 

AVorth Infantry, of York, Pennsylvania. 

Eagle Artillery, of Baltimore, Capt. I'hillips. 

A platoon of ofGcers representing volunteer companies of 
the fifth regiment of Baltimore. 

Mounted Carbineers, of Baltimore, Capt. S. C. Owings. 

The Marine Band attached to the Washington Navy 
Yard. 

Two companies of United States Marines, Capt. Tansill. 

Walker Sharpshooters, of Washington, Lieut. Birkhcad. 

Washington Light Infantry, of Washington, Capt. Tate. 

Four companies (C, E, F, G) U. S. Artillery, acting as 
infantry, under the command, respectively, of Capt. Bowcn, 
Lieut. Doubday, Capt. Williams, Capt. Brannan, and Lieut. 
Nichols. 

1st Artillery Band, from Fort Columbus, New York. 

One company of U. S. Flying Artillery, mounted and 
fully equipped, under the command of Major Sedgwick, 
from Fort McIIenry, Baltimore. 

Officers of the United States Navy, in uniform, on foot. 

Major Gen. Jones, commanding the Militia of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia and Staff. 

Maj. Gen. Scott, General-in-Chief of the United States 
Army, and Staff. 

Marshal of the District of Columbia and his Aids. 

Mayors of Washington and Baltimore. 

Joint Committee of Arrangements on the part of the two 
Houses of Congress, as follows : 

Committee of the Senate. 

Mr. Webster, of Massachusetts; Mr. C.\ss, of Michigan; 

an<l Mr. King, of Alabama. 



100 



Committee of the House. 



Mr. Conrad, of Louisiana, 
Mr. McDowell, of Virginia, 
Mr. WiNTHROP, of Mass. 
Mr. BissELL, of Illinois, 
Mr. DuER, of New York, 
Mr. Orr, of South Carolina, 
Mr. Breck, of Kentucky, 

Chaplains to Congress and Officiating Clergymen 

The Pall Bearers, as follows : 



Mr. Strong, of Pennsylvania, 
Mr. Vinton, of Ohio, 
Mr. Cabell, of Florida, 
Mr. Kerr, of Maryland, 
Mr. Stanly, of North Caro- 
lina, 
Mr. Littlefield, of Maine. 



Hon. Henry Clay, 
Hon. Lewis Cass, 
Hon. J. M. Berrien, 
Hon. R. C. WiNTHROP, 
Hon. James McDowell, 
Hon. Hugh White, 
G. W. P. CusTis, Esq. 
Chief Justice Cranch, 
Major General Jesup, 
Commodore Ballard. 



Hon. T. H. Benton, 
Hon. Daniel Webster, 
Hon. Truman Smith, 
Hon. Lynn Boyd, 
Hon. S. F. Vinton, 
Hon. Isaac E. Holmes, 
Hon. R. J. Walker, 
Joseph Gales, Esq. 
Major General Gibson, 
Briw. Gen. Henderson. 



Funeral Car, drawn by eight white horses, each horse 
attended by a groom. 

General Taylor's horse, " Old Whitey," fully capari- 
soned, attended by a groom. 

The Family of the late President in three carriages. 

The President of the L'nited States. 

The Cabinet. 

The Senate of the United States, preceded by its Officers. 

The House of Representatives, preceded by its Officers. 

The City Councils of Washington. 



iul 

Professor Henry, and Officers of the Smithsonian In- 
stitute. 

A representation of the Firemen and of the Temperance 
Societies of Washington. 

The Band of the Independent Blues, of Baltimore. 

Clerks of the Executive Departments of the Government. 

The Mayor and City Councils of Baltimore, in mourning. 

Judges of Courts, Citizens, Strangers, &c. &c. 

The Military Escort was closed by Major General Scott 
and his Staff. The noble and commanding figure of the 
General-in-Chief, mounted on a spirited horse, and shadowc<l 
by the towering plume of yellow feathers which marks his 
rank, presented an object well calculated to fill the eye and 
to swell the heart with patriotic pride, lie looks in better 
health than we expected, and promises long to continue to 
be the pride of the army and an ornament to his country. 
It is at once an elevating and a moving sight to behold 
such a Hero as Taylor followed to the grave by such a 
Hero as Scott. 

The Funeral Escort, of course, headed the Civic Proces- 
sion — the Car Avhich bore the remains of our late President 
he'mcr preceded by the Civil Officers of the District, the 
Committee of Arrangements of the two Houses of Con- 
gress, the Chaplains of Congress, the officiating Clergymen 
of the occasion, the attending Physicians to the late Presi- 
dent, and the Pall-Bearers, twenty in number, whose names 
have already been announced ; and followed by the Family 
and Relatives of the late President, by the President of the 
United States and Heads of Departments, the Senate and 
House of Representatives and their Officers, the Diplomatic 
Corps, and a great number of official persons, as enume- 



102 

rated in the programme, and filling more than a hundred 
carriages. The Car vras formed on an ancient model. The 
body was eleven feet long and six and a half feet wide. On 
this body rested a pyramidal platform eight feet long, foui' 
feet wide, and twelve inches high. From that sprung an 
arch, five feet in height, as a canopy, which was beautifully 
festooned with white and black silk. On the top of the 
arch rested a very large and beautiful gilt eagle, enshrouded 
with crape. The body of the Car was festooned with rich 
black cloth, with black silk velvet in the back ground, orna- 
mented with black and white silk fringe and white rosettes. 
The pyramidal platform was covered with black silk velvet, 
interspersed with silver stars and tassels. At the corner of 
each platform rested a large gilt urn. 

The Procession extended nearly two miles, its rear being 
at the President's House when the Military Escort, which 
occupied more than a third of its entire length, had passed 
the Capitol. It slowly wound its way over the high grounds 
east of the Capitol, pui'suing the broad and lately improved 
avenue which leads to the Congressional Cemetery. All 
the way along that distance, from the starting point to the 
place of interment, were stationed private cai-riages, horse- 
men, groups of citizens, families of children, and a mixed 
collection of expectant people, patiently awaiting (many of 
them for hours) the coming of the mourning train. Every 
shady spot was availed of ; but, these being soon occupied, 
as well as every window, roof, or tree that would command 
a xiev,' of the procession, numbers sat or stood in the burn- 
ing sun, so great was the desire to witness the solemn spec- 
tacle. 

Arriving at the grave-yard, the artillery were posted on a 



103 

rising ground, the troops drawn up in double line, and tlic 
coffin, preceded by the Clergy and attended by the pall- 
bearers, passed through the centre gate, and slowly reached 
the front of the receiving vault, which had been tastefully 
decorated with festoons of black, and was guarded by sen- 
tries to keep off the pressure of the crowd, which had 
already filled the enclosure. Here, the bier being set down, 
the Ilcv. Mr. Pyne read the solemn and beautiful service 
for the dead appointed in the Episcopal liturgy ; when the 
Inxly was taken up and deposited in a place appointed for 
its reception, until it shall be finally removed to its last 
earthly resting-place in the west, where the remains of 
Zachary Taylor will be emphatically at home. 

During the ceremony, as indeed during the whole march 
of the Procession, the utmost silence had prevailed. The 
eyes of the surrounding multitude were now directed with 
deep interest and solicitude to the countenance of President 
Fillmore. It was filled with solemn awe, and seemed to 
express a meek and becoming sense of that omnipotent and 
inscrutable Providence which had thus suddenly and unex- 
pectedly elevated himself to the highest human dignity, 
while it struck down, as in a moment, the great and good 
man Avhose ashes were before him. Yet there was mingled 
with that native modesty which never leaves him, a serene 
firmness, equally characteristic of the man, and which 
seemed, to a reflective observer, to say that the resistless 
hand which had lifted him up, unsought, to so high and 
perilous a station, was as strong to sustain as to elevate. 
To that hand, as merciful as mighty, is he heartily com- 
mended by the hopes, the wishes, and the prayers of every 
virtuous American. 



104 

Thus has a grateful Nation performed its last sad duty, 
and yielded the latest of many well-earned tributes to the 
honour of Zachary Taylok. Of the tears that have em- 
balmed his memory, many fell from eyes unwont to weep, 
and many from those whose relentless party ties, or whose 
stern convictions of political duty, placed them in the ranks 
of his decided political opponents. Opponents they may 
have been, enemies they could not. So much obvious 
honesty of purpose, so much true devotion to the country's 
cause, so much unpretending but unyielding bravery, so 
much unaffected kindness of heart, united to so much manly 
sense and clear discernment, could excite the enmity of 
nothing that deserves to be called a man. If such a feel- 
ing could ever live, it is now dead — buried in his tomb. 
On that sacred tomb will flourish ever only the laurels of 
his military glory, mingled with all those milder wreaths 
of fragrant gratitude which are the meed of every social 
virtue. 



105 



IN SENATE. 
Monday, July 15, 1850. 



Mr. Cass, from the committee appointed the 10th inst. on 
the part of the Senate, jointly with the committee ap- 
pointed on the part of the House of Representatives, to 
consider and report what measures it may be proper to 
adopt in order to show the respect and affection of Congress 
for the memory of Zachary Taylor, late President of the 
United States, reported a motion, which was considered 
by unanimous consent, and agreed to, for the printing of a 
pamphlet containing the proceedings and remarks in both 
Houses, on the death of the late lamented President. 

Mr. Webster, from the committee on the part of the 
Senate, to join a similar committee on the part of the 
House, to make arrangements for the funeral of the late 
President, reported the following resolution : 

Resolved hj the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
That the President of the United States be requested 
to transmit a copy of the proceedings of the two 
Houses on the 10th inst., in relation to the death <»f 
the Late President of the United States, to Mr.«;. 
Margaret S. Taylor, and to assure her of the pro- 



— — ■ — ® 

106 

found respect of the two Houses of Congress for her 
person and character, and of their sincere condolence 
on the late afflicting dispensation of Providence. 

The said resolution was read the first and second time, 
and unanimously adopted, and was afterward concurred in 
by the House of Representatives. 

Bills were passed in both Houses authorizing the trans- 
mission of letters and packages free of postage to the widow 
of the late President of the United States, and conferring on 
her the franking privilege. 



Wednesday, July 17, 1850. 



Agreeably to notice, Mr. Webster asked and obtained 
leave to bring in the following Bill, which was read the first 
and second time by unanimous consent, and unanimously 
passed by the Senate. It was pending in the House of 
Representatives when this pamphlet went to press. 

A Bill for the erection of a Monument to the memory of Zachary 
Taylor, late President of the United States. 

Be it enacted hy tlie Sencde and House of Representor 
tives of tlie United States of America in Congress as- 
semhled, That the Commissioner of the Pubhc Build- 
ings be and he hereby is directed to cause to be 
erected in the burial ground of the city of Washing- 
ton a neat and appropriate Monument to the memory 
of Zaciiary Taylor, late President of the United 



.107 

St;ite.s, who died at Washington, the !)th July, 1850, 
with 11 suitable inscription on the same, statin*^ the 
name, station, age and time of death of the deceased. 

Sec. 2. And />p it fnrtlter tnacte<1, That a sum, not 
exceeding two thousand dollars, be, and the same is 
hereljy, appropriated for the payment of the cost 
thereof, from any money in the Treasury not other- 
wise apiDropriated. 



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